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 […]
|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, […]
Militants from the al-Qaida-inspired Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) taking aim at captured Iraqi soldiers Photo: AP In the wake of David Haines’ beheading, we have republished this piece explaining why Isil carry out their atrocities As Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria butcher thousands of “infidels” and carry off their women and children into slavery, many in the West are inclined to see […]
By RUKMINI CALLIMACHI and KIMIKO DE FREYTAS-TAMURA September 13, 2014 The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria released a video Saturday of the third beheading of a foreign hostage, a British aid worker. The execution was a clear message to Britain, a vital ally of the United States as it builds an international coalition to target the militant group, which has made stunning advances across Syria and northern Iraq in recent months. […]
Dubai retailing and restaurants group Marka will list its shares on the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) on Sept. 25 in the market’s first flotation for five years, the company said on Saturday. New share issues dried up in Dubai when its financial crisis erupted five years ago and Marka’s flotation signals a reopening of the market as investment conditions improve. Marka initially planned to list its shares […]
Google has kicked off yet another program aimed at helping to develop the next big thing in tech: Google Cloud Platform for Startups. The program offers early-stage tech companies $100,000 in credit for Google’s Cloud Platform services, along with 24/7 support and technical architecture review help from Google’s engineers. The new offering was announced Friday by Urs Hölzle, Google Fellow and senior vice president of technical infrastructure, […]
By K Raveendran at CeBIT Eurasia, Istanbul Turkey’s Aktif Bank has no branches. In fact, in 2007, when the bank embarked on its journey, it did not even have a signboard. But today, the bank has one of the country’s fastest growing customer bases and every man on the street is its potential customer. Modelled as a ‘shop in shop’, its products and services are sold by […]
There was a muted response across the Gulf region early Thursday to a decision by President Barack Obama to begin U.S. airstrikes in Syria and expand the campaign in Iraq to destroy Islamic State. Arab states of the Gulf Cooperation Council have previously expressed skepticism of U.S. rhetoric for further intervention against Islamic State, without knowing the full details of U.S. participation or the role expected of […]
Colliers Houses prices in Dubai are cooling, and in some areas, they are even falling, according to the latest quarterly report from Colliers International. Average house prices were up 3% across Dubai in the second quarter, compared with the first three months of the year, and are still up 20% on a year-on-year basis. But average villa prices actually fell slightly from AED1,480 per square foot to […]
Dubai’s boom-and-bust real estate market can land you at the wheel of a Rolls-Royce or behind bars. Kabir Mulchandani should know: he’s experienced both. Five years after spending 140 days in jail facing charges of fraud and embezzlement for which he ultimately was cleared, the chairman of developer SKAI Holdings stands at a building site watching cranes start work on one of the company’s three projects. They […]
Last year, coworking spaces became all the rage in Dubai as entrepreneurs sought a place to get together and build nascent startups. Now, Google Inc. has also got in on the act. The tech giant has teamed up with the cofounders of online shopping website Namshi to create a “Google for Entrepreneurs” Tech Hub in Dubai. The space will open in 2015 and be run by AstroLabs, […]
|By TAP Staff| Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC), AstroLabs and Google have team up to launch a technology hub that will promote start-ups. Based in the DMCC free zone, the hub is expected to open early next year, catering to technology entrepreneurs from around the world looking to gain access to high-growth emerging markets, including the Emirates. AstroLabs, which is a DMCC member, trains Middle East and […]
By Leila Abboud PARIS Mon Sep 8, 2014 12:50pm IST A computer user poses in front of a Google search page in this photo illustration taken in Brussels May 30, 2014. Credit: Reuters/Francois Lenoir/Files A panel appointed by search engine Google will hold the first of a series of meetings on Tuesday to debate the balance between privacy and the free flow of information after a May […]
To me, visiting old churches makes more sense as a fundraiser than a bucket of cold water thrown over my head She hasn’t got the heaves, but if Miss Opsimath’s cough isn’t better by next Saturday, I’d better take my bike. So my cousin told me, when the possibility of my borrowing the mare was discussed. I’ll probably be more comfortable on the bike, because, although this […]
Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye. . . more could be done to improve the productivity of each police officer, says Tom Winsor Photo: Alamy At first, when her south London flat was broken into last winter, Zena Ambrose couldn’t have been more impressed with the response from the police. The communications consultant returned home from work late at night to find a burglar had stolen her MacBook, driving licence and designer clothes […]
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 […]
Telr, the payments company based out of Singapore and Dubai, has merged with a payment gateway in the United Arab Emirates to launch its services to ecommerce websites across the Middle East. Telr website The company, founded by ex-PayPal Middle East director Elias Ghanem, plans to offer ecommerce websites a payment gateway and delivery of goods, and will also provide short-term financing to help scale some startups. […]
Rents are either falling or holding steady in Dubai’s freehold communities, reveals the latest update of Real Estate Regulatory Agency’s (Rera) rental index, as compared to the update released in May. Downtown Dubai, an upscale community, is witnessing rental declines across all categories of apartments – studios, one- and two-bed units. Studio rates are down 6.25 per cent to 7.14 per cent, as per the final index […]
Militants from the al-Qaida-inspired Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) taking aim at captured Iraqi soldiers Photo: AP As Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria butcher thousands of “infidels” and carry off their women and children into slavery, many in the West are inclined to see this as an unique outcrop of Islamic fundamentalism. Yet after overrunning a Bosnian town on 11th July 1995, Bosnian […]
NEW DELHI: The prices of electricity in the spot market have zoomed to record highs of around Rs 6 per unit (kWh) over the last week, a reflection of the debilitating coal shortage and severe strains on the transmission interconnections between the northern and western regions. Spot prices on the IEX, the country’s largest exchange, have shot up to over Rs 10 during peak hours, with […]
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 […]
