|By TAP Staff| Dubai buyout firm Abraaj is teaming up with TPG Capital, based in Fort Worth, Texas, for a deal to buy a majority stake in Saudi Arabian fast-food chain Kudu, it has been reported. Kudu operates about 200 outlets in Saudi Arabia selling grilled chicken sandwiches, burgers and breakfasts. According to Bloomberg, the pickup in Middle East investment comes as dealmaking by private-equity firms in […]
Demonstrators outside the Barbican make their views clear during a protest against ‘Exhibit B’ Photo: Demotix On Wednesday night, I was planning to visit the Barbican with a couple of artist friends, two African Americans from New York. We wanted to see Exhibit B – an installation which involves actors in various tableaux depicting the degradation and the horror suffered by the victims of the Atlantic slave trade. […]
|By TAP Staff| The United Arab Emirates’ stock exchange plans to offer a trading platform for shares in private joint-stock companies so that they can raise capital with less disclosure of corporate information than publicly listed firms. Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum said that trading would begin over the next few months on a special platform set up inside the country’s existing stock exchanges, state […]
|By TAP Staff| The success of Emaar’s malls IPO has prompted Nakheel to consider a flotation on the local stock market. Such a possibility was indicated by top Nakheel official Sanjay Manchanda, who spoke to reporters at the sidelines of Cityscape. “The market is definitely very receptive to Dubai IPOs now. The success of Emaar will be an encouraging sign for us. Should we decide to list […]
|By TAP Staff| Dubai Duty Free (DDF) has completed re-pricing a $1.75 billion loan for the second time in about a year with more favourable terms, the leading retailer announced in a statement. It said a second facility worth $750 million has also been renegotiated. The $1.75 billion six-year loan, originally signed in July 2012 but repriced a year later, now carries an interest rate of 1.5 […]
|By TAP Staff| Confirmation of Dubai residential market rents cooling off came on Sunday when real estate consultancy CBRE reported that Dubai’s residential rents recorded the first drop after ten consecutive quarters of consistent increase. The drop has been attributed to an increase in new stock combined with the traditionally slow festive and holiday period. However, the agency pointed out that the transaction market retained some momentum […]
David Cameron has said he will keep the Barnett Formula but Scotland must expect extra responsibility and any deal must be fair to all parts of the UK Photo: FACUNDO ARRIZABALAGA/EPA The Scottish inventor of the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell, coined the phrase “When one door closes, another opens”. His fellow Scots’ nail-biting rejection of independence shelves the debate on secession. But it prises open the possibility of […]
|By TAP Staff| Dubai’s Emaar Properties said on Wednesday that its existing shareholders will be allocated one share in its malls unit IPO for every 36 held in the parent firm. Shareholders can buy the shares in Emaar Malls Group (EMG) on a preferential basis at the price that is set by the institutional book building process, the company said in a statement to Dubai’s bourse. Emaar […]
| By TAP Staff |With deadline fast approaching for Standard Chartered to exit part of its retail business, there is intense speculation over the likely suitor. Mashreqbank, one of the first names normally thrown up as a probable for such acquisitions, has ruled out any interest. The British bank is aiming to sell part of its business in the UAE after it agreed to close some accounts […]
|By TAP Staff| The UAE Securities and Commodities Authority plans to introduce new rules that will make it easier for local companies to raise resources from the market through dirham-denominated bonds. The new rules will also seek to reduce the cost of issuing bonds while making it faster for companies to issue and list their bonds. “We would like to see more active bond and sukuk markets […]
|By TAP Staff| Emaar Properties said the IPO of its shopping malls business unit has been sold out to institutional investors on the first day itself. The leading developer aiming to raise as much as AED 5.8 billion ($1.58 billion) from the offer of shares in Emaar Malls Group (EMG), which is expected to be the Gulf’s biggest stock sale since 2008. On offer are 2 billion […]
|By TAP Staff| Qatar National Bank announced the acquisition of an additional holding of 11 percent shares in pan-African bank Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (Ecobank). The cost of the additional holding is equivalent to $283 million. QNB Group’s total stake in Ecobank is now 23.5 percent. This enables QNB Group to become the largest shareholder whilst strengthening the partnership with Ecobank, a leading pan-African bank and is a […]
|By TAP Staff| The growing political instability in the Gulf has not affected spending on infrastructure development, which is expected to swell by 77 percent in 2014 over last year. According to latest compilations by Global Investment House, the value of new infrastructure projects in GCC is expected to surge to $86 billion this year. The value of new projects in Qatar and the UAE would rise […]
|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 […]
|By TAP Staff| Emaar Properties said it’s seeking to raise as much as $1.58 billion from the initial public offering of its malls unit in the UAE’s biggest IPO since 2007. Emaar Malls Group PJSC plans to sell 2 billion of its founders’ shares, or about 15 percent of its equity, in a price range of 2.5 dirhams to 2.9 dirhams apiece, according to a company statement […]
|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 […]
|By TAP Staff| Just over a year ago, China’s Xiaomi was little more than a mid-sized smartphone-maker with an odd name (Xiaomi means “millet”), trailing household brands such as Samsung, Lenovo, Coolpad and others. During the first six months of 2014, however, this four-year old company sold 26m smartphones, propelling it to pole position in the Chinese market. Next year, Lei Jun, its founder and CEO, expects […]
|By TAP Staff|The rising popularity of Islamic finance in the West is prompting analysts to conclude that the world is finally recognizing the fact Islamic finance is not just for Muslims and it ready to go mainstream. Islamic finance received a shot in the arm recently with the move by US investment bank Goldman Sachs to revive plans to issue its first sukuk. In June when the […]
|By TAP Staff| Emaar is eying significant investments by Chinese companies in its King Abdullah Economic City in Saudi Arabia. According to Fahd Al Rashed, chief executive of the city, several Chinese firms have shown interest and the company hopes to rope in up to 20 percent of investments from the Chinese. The King Abdulla Economic City envisages a port and business district as well as residential […]
President Obama on Wednesday in Washington. Mr. Obama says he is aware of the “political price” he pays for being deliberate. By PETER BAKER September 13, 2014 WASHINGTON — Just hours before announcing an escalated campaign against Islamic extremists last week, President Obama privately reflected on another time when a president weighed military action in the Middle East — the frenzied weeks leading up to the American invasion of […]
|By TAP Staff| Asia is giving expression to its growing disenchantment with the prevailing West-centred gold pricing mechanism by setting in place its own benchmarks that reflect the region’s market dynamics. China and Singapore are preparing to launch physical bullion contracts with an eye on gaining pricing power of the metal at a time when the global benchmark is under scrutiny. CME Group, the world’s leading derivatives […]
|By TAP Staff|Goldman Sachs is meeting investors this week for the sale of a dollar-denominated, benchmark-sized sukuk issue through its unit JANY Sukuk Co., people with knowledge of the deal said. The New York-based lender’s first foray into the Islamic capital markets three years ago ended without a sale amid criticism from scholars about the structure of its sukuk program and the use of funds raised. This […]
|By TAP Staff| Gold traded near a three-month low as the dollar advanced on speculation the Federal Reserve will increase interest rates next year, curbing demand. Gold has declined 5.2 percent this quarter as the outlook for higher borrowing costs reduced demand for an inflation hedge. Fed policy makers will meet Sept. 16-17. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of 10 […]
|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 […]
