Dubai is considering regulatory reforms to persuade more funds to base themselves in its financial centre, though industry experts believe that other parts of its investment environment may also need to change for the emirate to compete globally. The proposed rules would create a new class of funds in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) in an effort to attract asset managers, such as hedge funds and […]
|By Aki Ito| Who needs an army of lawyers when you have a computer? When Minneapolis attorney William Greene faced the task of combing through 1.3 million electronic documents in a recent case, he turned to a so-called smart computer program. Three associates selected relevant documents from a smaller sample, “teaching” their reasoning to the computer. The software’s algorithms then sorted the remaining material by importance. “We […]
|By K Raveendran| Abu Dhabi is set to launch an inaugural issuance of treasury bills of around $1 billion this year, along with an issue of $500 million commercial debt by Sharjah to invest in capital projects, sources familiar with the subject reveal. Also on the cards s a sukuk issue by Ras Al Khaimah, which has to refinance about $400 million in debt coming due this […]
Saudi Arabia’s drive to make Qatar abandon its embrace of the Muslim Brotherhood may founder because of the limited leverage the Saudis and their allies can exercise over the world’s richest country. Qatar traded more with Singapore in 2012 than it did with the three Gulf neighbors — Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain — that withdrew their ambassadors from Doha last week to protest […]
|By K Raveendran|The recent vote by the European Parliament to allow visa-free travel to Europe for UAE nationals and the reciprocal arrangement under which European citizens can visit the UAE without the need for pre-entry visas will be a tremendous boost to bilateral tourism. The development represents a major achievement for the UAE in terms of its standing in international comity. That this has come despite powerful […]
|By TAP Staff| Being in Dubai helps businesses and investors to reap rich rewards, according to findings in a summary report compiled by Dubai FDI, the foreign investment agency in the Department of Economic Development (DED) of Dubai. And the ease and competitiveness of doing business in Dubai is attracting the attention of worldwide investors, it adds. The reports cover such key sectors as logistics, retail, information […]
Dry cargo shippers with smaller vessels are shifting to more-risk, more-reward spot markets, eyeing rising demand for sugar and grains — commodities well suited to versatile supramax and handysize ships. Ship owners generally prefer long-term charters in a weak market. The Baltic Dry Index o-year lows in recent weeks but confidence has been rocked by South Korean dry bulk group Korea Line Corp filing for bankruptcy protection, […]
|By TAP Staff| Dubai stock market is set to see the first initial public offering in five years when a new company under formation for fashion and food retailing will tap the capital market within the next few weeks. The company, named Marka, is still in the process of being formed. It will operate in the UAE’s fashion retailing and food and beverage sectors; its over 100 […]
Prince of Wales is taking his interest in Middle East affairs to a new level by having lessons in Arabic. The Prince modestly told guests at a reception in Qatar that the language “goes in one ear and out the other”, but an aide disclosed that he is so keen to learn it that he has been having private tuition for more than six months. Understanding Arabic […]
Goldman Sachs Group Inc., which generated one-third of its profit from trading last year, is restarting Middle East and North Africa equity sales in Dubai, according to two people familiar with the matter. The fifth-largest U.S. bank by assets is hiring Veer Ramlugon as part of the plans, one of the people said, asking not to be identified because the matter isn’t public. Ramlugon, who declined to […]
A diplomatic split between Qatar and its wealthy Gulf neighbors may disrupt billions of dollars of investment in the region and slow efforts to make economies more efficient through trade and transport reforms. Qatar’s vast natural gas wealth means the tiny country, with a population of about 2.1 million, could probably continue operating indefinitely despite the displeasure of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. But […]
|By TAP Staff| The Dubai Mall gets more foot traffic than the Eiffel Tower, Niagara Falls and Disney World combined. Attracting 75 million visitors a year, it is one of the most visited tourist attractions on the planet. The Dubai Mall is no ordinary shopping center. Recognized by Guinness World Records as the world’s largest shopping mall (in terms of total floor space) it is larger than […]
Investor sentiment toward Dubai is about the best it has been since before the Persian Gulf emirate skirted default amid the global credit crisis. The cost of insuring its debt against non-payment with credit-default swaps was quoted at 189 basis points at the end of last month, the least since the 187 reached in May, which was the lowest since the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., […]
Abu Dhabi National Energy Co. (TAQA) and partners will pay $1.6 billion in cash and assumed debt to buy two hydroelectric power plants in India from Jaiprakash Power Ventures Ltd. (JPVL) in a deal expected to close this year. The state-controlled utility known as Taqa will manage and operate the facilities, it said in an e-mailed statement today. The assets have an enterprise value of $1.6 billion, […]
The new Savills World Cities Live-Work Index reveals that it now costs an average of just under $72,000-a-year per employee to rent residential and office space in Dubai, a thumping 41 per cent increase on a year ago, making the city the world’s seventh most expensive. However, the survey noted that this surge in rents came from ‘a relatively low base’ and that ‘the high costs in […]
Middle East fund managers remain bullish on most of the region’s major equity markets, but some are shifting money from the United Arab Emirates to less richly valued markets, a Reuters survey shows. The survey of 15 leading investment managers, conducted over the past 10 days, found 53 percent – a four-month high – expected to raise their equity allocations to the Middle East over the next […]
Saudi Arabia and India have formed a new joint venture to build a rice distribution hub in Dubai to link Indian production to consumers in Middle East, Arab News reported. Prince Mishaal bin Abdullah bin Turki and global private investor V Raman Kumar have formed the joint venture with India’s rice producer, LEAF India (Lakshmi Energy and Foods), to create West Asia and North Africa region’s largest […]
A last official link between the Gulf’s colonial era and its commercially dynamic present, Bill Duff devoted his life to Dubai and played a bigger part than any other westerner in the early transformation of the emirate from obscure outpost into global hub. Duff, who has died aged 91, arrived as an economic adviser in 1959 in what were called the Trucial states. His mission came at […]
The path toward U.S. energy independence, made possible by a boom in shale oil, will be much harder than it seems. Just a few of the roadblocks: Independent producers will spend $1.50 drilling this year for every dollar they get back. Shale output drops faster than production from conventional methods. It will take 2,500 new wells a year just to sustain output of 1 million barrels a […]
The Dubai Mall has refurbished the surface of its car parking facility, which is the most expansive in the Middle East & North Africa region with over 14,000 spaces across three separate high-rise buildings, with the award-winning Deckshield polyurethane deck coating system, from global resin flooring specialists Flowcrete Group. This system was chosen for its ability to maintain a smooth and colourful finish when faced with operational […]
Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) is set to welcome 11 international congresses in 2014, spanning a variety of industry sectors. When combined, these congresses will contribute an estimated US$32millon (AED117 million) to the city’s economy. The congresses will attract more than 12,000 international delegates, including global thought leaders in their respective fields, which include healthcare, transportation, legal and technology sectors. “Dubai’s position as a premier international business […]
|By Pranay Gupta| When I look out of the windows of my 25th-floor apartment in Dubai, I see the Persian Gulf shimmering a few blocks away. Cruise ships are parked at the dockyard, and in the blue waters beyond a steady stream of oil-laden tankers head out to quench the world’s thirst for black gold. Closer to me are other skyscrapers, vast shopping centers, and crowded convention […]
BuzzFeed has come a long way from cat lists. This month one of its journalists was on the ground in Kiev reporting on the crisis in Ukraine, and last December it published an in-depth article on a Chinese dissident living in Harlem, New York. The kittens haven’t disappeared, but these days there is serious journalism as well. When Facebook Inc tweaked its News Feed filters in December […]
Only a thin blue hoarding separates the busy shopping district of Downtown Dubai from the new waterside office and residential area of Business Bay – yet the two locations feel worlds apart. Turn right along a narrow road from The Dubai Mall and you are suddenly faced with piles of sand and heaps of junk. Shiny green glass buildings stand next to half-finished structures of grey skeletal […]
