By Paul Carsten BEIJING Mon Sep 8, 2014 11:12am IST A picture illustration shows a WeChat app icon in Beijing, December 5, 2013. Credit: Reuters/Petar Kujundzic/Files BEIJING (Reuters) – Apple Inc has a lot for which to thank people like Deng. A Beijing-based quality analyst, she gave only her surname as she’s embarrassed by how much money she spends playing mobile games on WeChat, a hugely popular […]
|By TAP Staff|Meraas Holding said the first phase of its ambitious e $2.7 billion Dubai Parks and Resorts project incorporating the Legoland park would be completed by 2016. In addition to the Legoland park, that initial phase will include a Bollywood-themed park celebrating the Indian film industry and another known as Motiongate Dubai promising to bring Hollywood characters to life. Plans also call for a central retail […]
RAK Ceramics For RAK Ceramics, the world’s biggest manufacturer of tiles, 2014 may become one of the most transformative periods in the company’s 23-year history. Investment firm Samena Capital this year bought a 31% stake in the company that in the past two decades has become the flagship business of Ras al Khaimah, the most northern of the seven emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates, […]
Bloomberg News London Stock Exchange Group ’s two biggest shareholders have adopted rather different strategies over the company’s £938 million ($1.5 billion) rights issue to fund its acquisition of Russell Investments. Shortly after the deal was first announced in June, Qatar Holding sold a third of its stake in the company, cutting its holding to 10.3%. People close to the fund said at the time that it […]
|By TAP Staff| Emaar Properties will launch the initial public offer of its shopping malls and retailing unit on Sept. 14. The developer further said the subsidiary will be listed on Dubai’s main stock market on Oct. 2. The offer would be one of the largest equity sales in the Middle East since 2008, underlining Dubai’s recovery from a credit crisis that forced many state-linked developers to […]
By Christina Farr SAN FRANCISCO Sat Sep 6, 2014 6:41pm IST The leaf on the Apple symbol is tinted green at the Apple flagship store on 5th Ave in New York April 22, 2014. Credit: Reuters/Brendan McDermid/Files SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Apple Inc has invited top fashion editors and bloggers in unprecedented numbers to its Tuesday launch gala, further evidence that the iPhone maker is preparing to […]
By Noel Randewich and Diane Bartz SAN FRANCISCO/WASHINGTON Fri Sep 5, 2014 9:21am IST Visitors walk past the Qualcomm stand at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, February 24, 2014. Credit: Reuters/Albert Gea/Files SAN FRANCISCO/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Nvidia Corp has sued rival chipmakers Qualcomm and Samsung Electronics, accusing both companies of infringing its patents on graphics processing technology. The U.S. chipmaker vies with Qualcomm in the business […]
As political unrest continues to grip the Middle East, it is hardly a surprise that many international investors are wary about the region’s business prospects. Whether that is warranted or not, the International Finance Corporation, a World Bank Group subsidiary that promotes the private sector in developing markets, is trying to change that perception by stepping up its investments in the financial and power sectors. “We have […]
Al Qaeda leader Ayman al Zawahri on Wednesday announced the formation of an Indian branch of his militant group he said would spread Islamic rule and “raise the flag of jihad” across the subcontinent. In a 55-minute video posted online, Zawahri also renewed a longstanding vow of loyalty to Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Omar, in an apparent snub to the Islamic State armed group challenging al Qaeda […]
Spurred by a rapidly deteriorating economy, the International Monetary Fund has approved a three-year extended credit facility worth $552 million with Yemen, the impoverished Arab nation that has become a breeding ground for the terrorist group al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. The lifeline will provide some relief for Yemeni authorities who face a myriad of political and security challenges that continue to drag on the economy. […]
Islamic debt could become a source of funding for U.K. infrastructure projects from wind turbines to high-speed trains and airports as Britain cements its position as the first sukuk market in a non-Muslim nation. Investors including Bank of London and the Middle East see scope for the U.K. to issue Shariah-compliant bonds with varying maturities after the Debt Management Office attracted bids for more than 10 times […]
NEW DELHI: Diesel price deregulation looks imminent after the difference between retail sale price and its actual cost dropped to a historic low of just 8 paisa. This is the first time in over a decade that retail pump prices are almost in line with imported cost of the nation’s most consumed fuel. Under-recovery or the gap between retail selling price and the cost of import […]
Emirates said it’s ready to play the long game in seeking to add routes in Germany, one of the few major travel markets that the world’s No. 1 airline by international traffic is struggling to penetrate. Emirates, which has overcome the modest population of its home base by building Dubai into a long-haul transfer hub, can serve only four German cities under a bilateral air-services accord dating […]
Five years after Dubai teetered on the brink of financial disaster, there are signs emerging that the emirate’s initial public offering market is coming back to life as the owner of the world’s largest shopping mall prepares to sell shares to the public next month. Emaar Properties, Dubai’s highest profile real estate group, said on Sunday it plans to list at least 15% of its profitable and […]
|By TAP Staff|The global Sukuk industry is expected to be one of the fastest growing segments of the Islamic finance industry with huge growth potential in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region, according to a report by the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry. This is particularly true of Dubai where Sukuks are expected to play an important role over the next decade in securing funds for […]
Middle East funds are bullish on Saudi Arabia’s stock market despite concern it is getting richly valued, while they think the United Arab Emirates has bottomed out after a volatile few months, a Reuters survey showed. The Saudi stock market index has jumped 13 percent since authorities announced in late July that they would open the market to direct investment by foreign institutions in the first half […]
Emaar Properties will launch its highly anticipated initial public offer of at least 15 percent of its shopping malls and retailing unit on Dubai’s main stock market in September, and plans to list the shares in October. The offer would be one of the largest equity sales in the Middle East since 2008, underlining Dubai’s recovery from a credit crisis that forced many state-linked developers to stall […]
A logo of Emaar is seen near the Dubai Mall Reuters Emaar Properties plans to float at least 15% of its profitable and fast-growing malls business in a September IPO. The chances are high though that Dubai’s flagship developer may sell an even bigger stake. It all depends on getting the right valuation for Emaar Malls Group. After all, Emaar will be cutting its own stake in […]
KUWAIT. A recent report issued by KFH Research, a subsidery for KFH Group, sees continued positive outlook for the Kuwaiti construction industry, on the back of strong domestic demand in the Kuwaiti economy and a pick-up in government capital spending. Overview and Outlook “While we remain fundamentally cautious about the country’s medium-term investment outlook, we note that higher growth in bank lending over the last few months […]
LEBANON. Byblos Bank issued today, in cooperation with the American University of Beirut through the Olayan School of Business, the results of the Byblos Bank/AUB Consumer Confidence Index for the first half of 2014. The results show that the Byblos Bank/AUB Consumer Confidence Index improved marginally in January and February, picked up pace in March and April, and regressed in May and June 2014. The Index reached […]
By Brad Thomas: One of the most frequent questions that I hear today from retail investors is “why are REITs critical to your investment portfolio?” That’s a logical question to ask, especially for investors who owned REITs during the Great Recession. The purpose of this article will be to answer that question but also to provide meaningful insight into the potential impact of REITs and rising interest […]
By Pratik Deb In the beginning of the last decade, the Left front government of West Bengal felt the urge to do ‘industrialisation’ with an additional fervour and gusto. Sure, there was Chief Minister’s annual trip to London, sure there were those occasional government ceremonies with a gathering of a few local industrialists, sure the authority was going on putting up the show of being proactive and […]
By Casey Hoerth: The news that Kinder-Morgan would be merged into one big, corporate entity has gotten a mixed reaction among retail investors here on Seeking Alpha. Of course, many are rightfully pleased about the run-up in share price: Since the announcement of the merger both Kinder Morgan Partners (NYSE:KMP) and Kinder Morgan Inc. (NYSE:KMI) have seen shares leap up by some 20%. The benefits of Kinder […]
By Bret Jensen: I have made quite a bit of money over the past 12-18 months trading in and out of high yielding upstream energy partnership Linn Energy (NASDAQ:LINE). This was especially true after a couple of negative articles in Barron’s last year alleging “accounting irregularities” knocked the stock down to the low $20s. This held up a pending merger with Berry Petroleum that was eventually blessed […]
