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Emirates NBD (ENBD), Dubai’s largest lender, plans to sell a benchmark-sized capital-boosting bond, a document from lead managers said on Monday, looking to take advantage of favourable markets to strengthen its reserves. ENBD has chosen Citigroup, Commerzbank, Deutsche Bank, Morgan Stanley, Standard Chartered and its own investment banking arm to arrange investor meetings ahead of a potential issue, the document said, confirming what banking sources told Reuters […]

The Republic of South Africa will begin marketing its debut sukuk from September 8. The roadshow will begin in London, before heading to Dubai and Abu Dhabi on September 9, Riyadh on September 10, and Qatar the following day. The roadshow will wrap up on September 12, though the destination is still being decided, according to a lead. A 144A/Reg S dollar sukuk transaction may follow. BNP […]

Hong Kong’s government will hold investor meetings next week for its maiden Islamic bond issue, a spokeswoman for the Hong Kong Monetary Authority said on Thursday. A meeting will be held in Hong Kong on Monday before one in Singapore on Tuesday, Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday and meetings in Dubai, Doha, Abu Dhabi and London on Thursday. The AAA-rated government earlier mandated HSBC, Standard Chartered, CIMB Group […]

First-time sellers of bonds that adhere to Islam’s ban on interest are poised to revive an industry suffering its worst quarter in more than four years. Luxembourg and Hong Kong aim to market debut offerings of sukuk next month, while Kenya, South Africa, Bangladesh and Tatarstan have announced plans for maiden issues. Islamic bond sales have fallen 82 percent to $2.6 billion this quarter compared with the […]

Two months ago, the U.K. became the first Western nation to sell Islamic bonds. But missing from the list of advisers and arrangers on the £200 million transaction were any of the country’s six shariah-compliant banks. One of them, Bank of London and the Middle East, doesn’t appear to have any hard feelings about it and applauds the rise in sovereign sukuks as they will help accelerate […]

|By TAP Staff| Forbes has ranked Dubai ahead of Los Angeles, Beijing and Sydney as the most influential city in the world. Dubai was ranked seventh on a list topped by London. The rankings are based on eight factors including the amount of foreign direct investment they have attracted; the concentration of corporate headquarters; how many particular business niches they dominate; air connectivity (ease of travel to […]

SAUDI ARABIA. Saudi Arabia set out draft proposals on foreign-shareholder limits as one of the world’s most restricted stock markets prepares to open its doors for the first time to investors outside the region. The Capital Market Authority may cap foreign ownership of a single stock to 49 percent, it said in plans posted on the Riyadh-based regulator’s website today. It may also set a 5 percent […]

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By WestEnd511: Qihoo (NYSE:QIHU) will report its 2Q14 earnings on Monday before market opens. The detail of the conference call is below: US Toll Free Dial In: +1 866-519-4004 International Dial In: +65 6723 9381 Hong Kong Dial In: +852-2475-0994 Conference ID: 87291151 Consensus expects $0.46 in EPS (vs. $0.40 a year ago) on revenue of $309m (+104% y/y). The stock has outperformed the broader NASDAQ by […]

Saudi Arabia set out draft proposals on foreign-shareholder limits as one of the world’s most restricted stock markets prepares to open its doors for the first time to investors outside the region. The Capital Market Authority may cap foreign ownership of a single stock to 49 percent, it said in plans posted on the Riyadh-based regulator’s website today. It may also set a 5 percent limit for […]

Two weeks, three continents, and 100 meetings. That — and founder Jack Ma celebrating his 50th birthday on the road — is what it will take for Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. to pull off the largest initial public offering in U.S. history. The Chinese e-commerce company is weighing a plan to start marketing the share sale to investors on Sept. 3, with management traveling across Asia, Europe […]

Royal Bank of Scotland confirmed it was considering selling the international arm of its private bank, a deal one source said could net it as much as $1 billion, as the British government leans on it to focus more on domestic lending. The move means that Coutts, founded in the 18th century and best known as banker to Queen Elizabeth, could be split into two businesses – […]

Luxembourg will start meeting investors in the next two months to drum up support for a debut sale of shariah compliant bonds as sukuk sales surge worldwide. The country, which has an AAA credit rating at Moody’s Investors Service, Standard & Poor’s and Fitch Ratings, is planning to become the second non-Muslim nation to issue a sovereign Islamic bond after the U.K. raised 200 million pounds ($335 […]

Hong Kong, Indonesia and Pakistan are banking on pent-up investor demand as they look to raise up to a combined US$3.5bn in the fast-growing Islamic bond market. The three sovereign sukuk issues, including a planned US$1bn debut from Triple A rated Hong Kong, are set to launch before the end of September. Few Asian issuers have targeted the global sukuk market in the past, and the glut […]

|TAP Special| Dubai stands to gain from a changing shopping profile of Singapore as strengthening exchange rate, rising labour costs and sales tax are putting foreign shoppers at a disadvantage in the island city state. Reports already suggest a marked drop in tourist arrivals, particularly from China. Dubai retailer Al-Futtaim has closed its stores for brands including Shana and Vince Camuto in Singapore, and is closing Mango […]

defNEW DELHI: Outgoing Army chief General Bikram Singh on Thursday said that India has given a befitting reply to Pakistan after the beheading of an Indian soldier by Pakistani troops in 2013 along the Line of Control (LoC) even as he did not rule out the possibility of skirmishes on the western front in future.

 

Talking to reporters before demitting office, he admitted that face-offs between Indian and Chinese army soldiers take place while patrolling their ‘claimed areas’ along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) but they are dealt with in accordance with the existing mechanisms.

 

Asked if India had given a befitting reply after the January 8, 2013 beheading incident, he said, “It has been done. Please

Gold headed for a third weekly loss in the longest run of declines since September as U.S. employment data may add to signs that the world’s largest economy is gaining traction. Gold for immediate delivery fell as much as 0.3 percent to $1,279.30 an ounce, the lowest level since June 19, and was at $1,283.85 at 2:20 p.m. in Singapore, according to Bloomberg generic pricing. The metal […]

Gold hit its highest in nearly a week on Tuesday as violence flared in the Middle East and Ukraine, but gains were capped by uncertainty ahead of a Federal Reserve policy meeting and important U.S. data later this week. Israel’s military pounded targets in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country should prepare for a long conflict in the Palestinian enclave, […]

The parent company of a scandal-hit Chinese food supplier said it is withdrawing all products made by the subsidiary. Shanghai Husi Food Co Ltd, owned by Illinois-based OSI Group LLC, is at the center of a major food safety scandal, which has spread from China to Hong Kong and Japan, over allegations it mixed fresh and expired meat. In a statement posted on its website late Saturday, […]

 Regulators in Jordan have introduced a set of long-awaited rules for the issuance of sukuk, or Islamic bonds, paving the way for both the public and private sectors to tap into growing demand for sharia-compliant investments. Jordan is one of several Muslim-majority countries keen to develop their domestic Islamic finance sector and the government is studying a proposal to issue a sovereign sukuk, mirroring efforts by Egypt […]

The Middle East will take a bigger share of gold demand as buyers from Kuwait to Saudi Arabia to the United Arab Emirates diversify investments and Dubai nears offering a contract for immediate delivery bullion. MKS (Switzerland) SA, a Geneva-based bullion trader and refiner, expanded into Dubai three years ago and employs 25 people there, with the gold trade an “important market,” said Frederic Panizzutti, chief executive […]

The malls unit of Dubai’s Emaar Properties will hold meetings with fixed income investors ahead of a potential benchmark-sized sukuk issue, Emaar said on Thursday, in what would be a debut debt market transaction for the subsidiary. Dubai Islamic Bank, Emirates NBD, Mashreq, Morgan Stanley, First Gulf Bank , National Bank of Abu Dhabi, Noor Bank and Standard Chartered will be arranging the meetings on Emaar’s behalf, […]

Inside a nondescript office building in central London, a roomful of men and women sit at computer screens and talk over Skype with people in faraway places. Sharp-edged Cantonese fills the air, and a flat-screen TV emits a continuous din. It’s the chanting, singing Midlands crowd at Birmingham, England’s Villa Park Stadium: Liverpool at Aston Villa. The match has just kicked off. The name of the company, […]

World travelers looking for a cheap place to stay may want to avoid Geneva, Dubai and Miami. The three cities rank among the most expensive markets for hotel rooms, according to an index compiled by Bloomberg. In Geneva, the average cost for a night is $308, followed by Dubai at $273, Kuwait City at $253 and Zurich at $250. Miami is next as the costliest place for […]

Islamic finance has been one of the fastest-growing sectors in global finance but the industry has yet to shake off perceptions about high costs and complexity that are holding back some issuers. Sukuk, or Islamic bonds that follow religious principles such as a ban on interest and speculation, are now a major funding tool for companies in the Middle East and southeast Asia, and are becoming increasingly […]

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