Leading Saudi IT firm achieves 20pc growth RIYADH, 21 hours, 18 minutes ago Al Falak Electronic Equipment & Supplies Company, a leading IT and communications solution provider, said it has registered a growth average of 20 per cent for the last three years. The company has been witnessing continuous growth in its operations in both Saudi Arabia and the rest of the GCC region over the last […]
As airstrikes led by the United States against the militant group Islamic State continued on Wednesday, for the first time in over two decades – Saudi Arabia and several other Gulf monarchies openly joined the campaign. While Arab participation in the strikes is of more symbolic than military value, analysts described it as a bold move for a group of countries that for long preferred to act […]
Demand for aircraft leasing is expected to stay steady. Aircraft lessors wary as new rivals crowd into aviation ISTANBUL, 1 days ago By Tim Hepher Aircraft leasing companies voiced confidence in steady jetliner demand, but warned new aviation investors that they may take a painful hit when central banks start unwinding their efforts to stimulate the economy. Deterred by poor returns elsewhere as interest rates remain at […]
Gulf Capital buys into top Egypt glass firm ABU DHABI, 21 hours, 31 minutes ago Gulf Capital, a leading alternative investment firm, has completed the acquisition of a strategic minority stake in Middle East Glass Manufacturing (MEG), Egypt’s largest container glass and PET manufacturer. MEG is a worldwide approved supplier of glass bottles for Coca-Cola, an approved supplier for Pepsi, Nestle and other major beverage producers locally […]
The Rawabi project displayed at Cityscape Global in Dubai. Rory Jones for The Wall Street Journal New settlements in the West Bank are often heatedly discussed in Dubai. But at the emirate’s showcase real estate event Cityscape Global, it was Palestinian, not Jewish building that was on the tips of tongues. Rawabi, a controversial housing project billed as Palestine’s first planned city, was this week being sold […]
Actress Emma Thompson and her daughter Gaia take part in the “People’s Climate March” in central London Photo: REUTERS Down with climate change! Listen – and heed – Emma Thompson’s dire warning on global warming! There now, how’s that? Having satisfied everyone’s environmental conscience, let’s tackle the other burning (but, let me stress, not fossil-fuel) issue at the heart of the People’s Climate March in London at the […]
The Dubai International Financial Centre DIFC plans $700m sukuk issue by end-October DUBAI, 1 days ago DIFC Investments, the investment arm of the company running Dubai’s financial free zone, is seeking to raise as much as $700 million by issuing a sukuk to help repay existing debt and fund real estate development, its top executive said on Sunday. The company aims to finalise the ijara-structured deal by […]
As the U.S. and France launch airstrikes against the Islamic State, Lebanon’s artists and activists have been organizing one of the Middle East’s most strident cultural responses to the group following its rapid incursion on large swaths of Iraqi and Syrian territory this summer. An IS flag-burning trend, accompanied by a Twitter hashtag campaign mimicking the recent “ice bucket challenge” charity fad, cropped up a few weeks […]
A project displayed at Cityscape Global 2014. Rory Jones for The Wall Street Journal Dubai’s showcase annual real-estate event appears to offer more substance than style this year: Cityscape Global had fewer glitzy property launches on day one than last year, and there were no backroom scuffles as investors scrambled to snap up units of premier developers. There was still plenty of real estate for sale as […]
DIFC Investments LLC, which owns properties in the Dubai International Financial Center business park, said it plans to raise about $700 million from an Islamic bond sale to repay debt and fund development as borrowing costs decline. The state-controlled company, which is planning to issue the sukuk before the end of October, will use the proceeds to repay the $650 million outstanding on a syndicated loan, DIFC […]
U.S. President Barack Obama says the U.S. continues to lead its “friend and allies” in the strategy to “degrade and ultimately destroy” the terrorist group known as Islamic State. Obama said in his weekly address Saturday the militants “pose a threat to the people of Iraq, Syria and the broader Middle East.” He said “if let unchecked, they could pose a growing threat to the United States.” […]
CEO Akbar Al Baker at a press conference on the delivery of the first Airbus A380 to Qatar Airways in Hamburg. European Pressphoto Agency Qatar Airways has caught the “revolution” bug that has swept the Middle East as Chief Executive Akbar Al Baker promises changes for business class seats at the airline that prides its reputation for high-end service. By mid-2016 the airline plans to roll out […]
Finance Minister Hani Dimian at the the Euromoney Conference in Cairo. Reuters Such is the level of confidence of Egypt’s finance minister in his country’s economic turnaround that he advises prospective investors to move quickly because they will be treated on a “first come, first served” basis. Some of Hany Kadry Dimian’s optimism is certainly warranted: Egypt’s GDP growth is gradually picking up and the economy is […]
ANKARA, Turkey — Having spent most of his youth as a drug addict in one of the poorest neighborhoods of Turkey’s capital, Can did not think he had much to lose when he was smuggled into Syria with 10 of his childhood friends to join the world’s most extreme jihadist group. After 15 days at a training camp in the Syrian city of Raqqa, the de facto […]
Edinburgh in the sunshine Photo: AP In bright sunshine this past week, the cobbled pedestrian streets of Edinburgh and the bustling byways in and around the Royal Mile have been thronged with students getting to know Scotland’s historic capital. Students like me, eager to start this new chapter in our lives while enjoying the cheap alcohol and easy socialising that comes with Fresher’s Week. However, behind the carnival […]
WASHINGTON — The United States, as promised by President Obama, has stepped up its airstrike campaign in Iraq, hitting targets near Baghdad in the effort to help the Iraqi government win back territory seized by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, Pentagon officials said Monday. The offensive is the first expansion of the United States’ campaign against the Islamist militant group that Mr. Obama outlined last […]
ISTANBUL — President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey said on Monday that several exiled leaders of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood who fled to Qatar but lately have come under pressure to leave that Persian Gulf monarchy could perhaps find a new refuge in his country. “If they make any request to come to Turkey, such an application would be assessed and examined,” Mr. Erdogan said, according to a […]
|By TAP Staff| Dubai added to its financial market profile when Bank of America-Merrill Lynch announced on Monday it was moving its head of frontier markets research to the city. The move reflects the bank’s plan to take advantage of growing investor interest in the Gulf and surrounding region. Global firms have been strengthening their presence in the wake of surging stock markets, index upgrades and most […]
KKR ‘s Samie says the key challenges in the region are valuations, regulations and issues with minority ownership. Nicolas Parasie for The Wall Street Journal KKR & Co. has been in the Middle East and North Africa since 2008. In what could be one of the largest buyout deals ever in the region, the New York-based private equity giant is jointly bidding for Kuwait’s Americana. The Wall […]
Savola Group, a Saudi Arabian food producer, hired JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM) to advise on a potential bid for the operator of KFC restaurants in the Middle East and North Africa, according to four people with knowledge of the matter. Non-binding bids for the $4.3 billion Kuwait Food business, known as Americana, are due next month, the people said, asking not to be identified as the […]
|TAP Special| A lower oil price has now become both an economic and political necessity. This is in view of the complications introduced by the disruption of Middle East politics brought about by recent advances by the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq. Bank of America Merrill Lynch notes in a review of the regional political and economic situation that the threat of a radical Islamic Sunni […]
|By TAP Staff| Ramesh S. Ramakrishnan, Chairman of Transworld Group, a Dubai headquartered shipping, logistics and marine services provider, was honoured as “The Visionary and Businessman of the Decade” at the prestigious Maritime And Logistics Awards 2014 held in Mumbai, India on Friday. Ramakrishnan was recognised for his many pioneering and innovative initiatives, outstanding vontributions, visionary leadership and commitment to the development of maritime industry, both in […]
UAE. Two-thirds (66 percent) of millennial high-frequency travellers rate “unique rewards” as an important factor when choosing a hotel loyalty program, compared with just 43 percent of their older counterparts, according to a new Deloitte study, “Winning the Race for Guest Loyalty”. “Our study indicates that customers are waiting to see which program will provide them with the greatest relevant rewards before they commit to a brand, […]
SAUDI ARABIA. Banks with experience arranging Islamic bond sales may stand to benefit from the potential opening of Saudi Arabia’s debt market to foreign investors, according to the investment banking unit of Mashreqbank PSC. (MASQ) “There’ll be a lot of potential for non-Saudi banks to get involved on the advising and arranging side,” Abdul Kadir Hussain, who oversees about $700 million as chief executive officer of Mashreq […]
