Articles written by
arabian post staff

INDRA-2014 DRILLS ENDED SUCCESSFULLY IN RUSSIA’S FAR EAST

Russian-Indian international naval drills Indra-2014 ended in Russian far eastern city of Vladivostok. “Russian and Indian naval sailors fulfilled all tasks completely,” head of the press service of the Russian Pacific Fleet Captain First Rank Roman Martov told Itar-Tass on Sunday.

At the final meeting aboard the guards missile-carrying cruiser Varyag Assistant Commander of the Pacific Fleet Rear Admiral Andrey Ryabukhin noted that interoperability and trust between two fleets reached a very high level.

For his part, Commander of the Indian Eastern Fleet Rear Admiral Atul Kumar Jain said at this meeting that naval sailors had acquired a very good experience and were on the way back home with the posit

Egypt turns to Western advisors in reform bid

 Western advisers are drawing up plans for reshaping the Egyptian economy, sources said, with the apparent blessing of president-elect Abdel Fattah al-Sisi who so far has spoken only vaguely in public about reviving the state’s finances. The driving force behind the consulting project is the United Arab Emirates, which along with Saudi Arabia and Kuwait has showered Egypt with billions of dollars in aid since Sisi removed […]

Aldar retires $1.25 billion debt

|By TAP Staff|Aldar Properties  announced it has repaid a US$1.25 billion bond that matured at the end of May 2014 as the company pushes ahead with a strategy to deleverage, reduce its cost of borrowing and build a strong platform for growth. The bond that matured in May 2014 carried an annual interest cost of 10.75% and it was repaid using cash and by drawing down on […]

Banks see regulation as top risk

|By TAP Staff| Regulation topped the list of risks among the global banking industry– replacing 2012’s leading threat, the macro-economic environment, according to the Banking Banana Skins 2014 survey The CSFI’s biennial Banking Banana Skins survey, produced in association with PwC, revealed the overwhelming message from respondents: the weight of new regulation is becoming excessive and could dampen economic recovery and growth. The poll is based on […]

Australasia fastest growing market for Dubai airport

|By TAP Staff|Australasia was the fastest-expanding market for Dubai International in the first quarter, up 21.9 percent on the previous year, as a direct result of the partnership between Qantas and Emirates, the Wall Street Journal reported quoting Dubai Airports sources. Both North America and Asia, two markets where Emirates has expanded routes recently were pipped by Australasia. Dubai has become a popular stopover for Australians en […]

Discount on Dubai assets seen turning to premium

|By TAP Staff|Investors are paying a premium to buy highly rated MENA sovereign assets, indicating tighter spreads on them, Citibank said in a report. In the case of the mid-rated sovereigns of Bahrain and Dubai, spreads are still marginally higher than the BBB average, implying these sovereigns trade at a discount. But the report suggests that the recent rally in Bahraini and Dubai sovereign debt has meant […]

US airports: ‘menacing, cramped and devoid of humanity’

‘No country demand anything like the same assurances as the USA immigration authorities’ Photo: GETTY Having recently returned from the US, I feel obliged to offer a few thoughts about American transport. Because – certainly at Los Angeles and New York – something has gone very badly wrong. A lot of people complain about Heathrow and Gatwick but the truth is that we British have quietly set about […]

Emaar gets rule exemption to float mall business on DFM

|By TAP Staff| The listing of Emaar Properties mall business on Dubai Financial Market instead of Nadaq Dubai as originally envisaged would necessitate an exemption from the DFM rule regarding the minimum size of the float. Emaar is floating only 25 percent of the mall business, while the minimum float required for a listing on DFM is 55 percent. Nasdaq Dubai, on the other hand, allows floatation […]

Putin’s comrade capitalism gets exposed

In the world’s biggest country, railways are still a route to riches. With nearly 1 billion passengers a year and $42 billion in annual sales, the state company Russian Railways is a giant commercial opportunity. At its head is Vladimir Yakunin, an old friend and long-standing ally of President Vladimir Putin. He oversees a company that strikes international deals, issues bonds to major investors and plans hugely […]

Dubai outscores all US cities for healthcare

|By TAP Staff| Dubai outscores all US cities in terms of its healthcare system, the latest Cities of Opportunities report has revealed. Dubai is the only Middle Eastern city that features in the Price Waterhouse Cooper study takes the pulse of 30 cities at the heart of the world’s economy and culture. Dubai ranked 5th in global affordability, that measures cost of living, purchasing power and corporate […]

Ooredoo joins MIT Media Lab to drive innovation

|By TAP Staff| Ooredoo has announced a new collaboration with the world-renowned MIT Media Lab, in order to drive cutting-edge ICT innovation and research. Since 1985, the MIT Media Lab has pioneered unconventional research in the ICT sector to radically improve people’s daily lives. Ooredoo joins the MIT Media Lab as a Consortium Lab Member. Dr. Nasser Marafih, Group CEO, Ooredoo, said: “ICT is rapidly converging, and […]

Scientists worry about milder forms of MERS

Scientists leading the fight against Middle East Respiratory Syndrome say the next critical front will be understanding how the virus behaves in people with milder infections, who may be spreading the illness without being aware they have it. Establishing that may be critical to stopping the spread of MERS, which emerged in the Middle East in 2012 and has so far infected more than 500 patients in […]

Outstanding achievement PR award for Sunil John

|By TAP Staff| Sunil John, founder and CEO of ASDA’A Burson-Marsteller, the region’s leading public relations consultancy, has been awarded the “SABRE Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement”, the first person from the Middle East to be honoured with this prestigious global award. The SABRE Awards, which are presented by The Holmes Group, a leading global public relations publishing organisation, acknowledged John’s position at the “forefront of change” […]

Lamprell to raise $120m on way to recovery

Oil rig maker Lamprell said on Friday it would raise about $120 million to boost its productivity after returning to profit last year despite growing risk in the sector. Chief executive officer James Moffat said the rights issue marked “the final piece of the jigsaw puzzle in our recovery”, which had started around 18 months ago. It will be used to support investment, facilitate debt refinancing and […]

The Tories said coalition wouldn’t work – and they were dead right

Happier days: Nick Clegg and David Cameron in 2010 agree to form a coalition government Photo: Getty Images Just before the general election, the Conservatives released a party political broadcast warning that a coalition would bring disaster. “Under-the-table deals will be the order of the day,” we were told. The fate awaiting savers was depicted by a hammer smashing a piggy bank. The process of proper government would […]

Dnata eyeing Lufthansa catering business

Emirates’ ground services unit Dnata is “very interested” in acquiring the world’s largest in-flight catering business from Lufthansa, if it is put up for sale again, Dnata’s president said on Tuesday. Lufthansa, Europe’s largest airline by revenue, had put LSG Sky Chefs up for sale in 2012 but then abandoned the plans. “They have said they are not ready to sell,” Gary Chapman,told reporter on the sidelines […]

Dubai set to reclaim ‘crane capital’ status?

|By TAP Staff| The reappearance of cranes on the Dubai skyline is encouraging analysts to predict that the emirate is soon set to reclaim the status it once enjoyed as the world’s crane capital. Construction cranes have dotted the Dubai skyline and are seen to herald the economic growth, with a major build-up of momentum in the real estate activity. Dubai was once home to almost 25 […]

MSCI upgrade to bring in $1.5b

|By TAP Staff| Analysts have estimated that at least $1.5 billion in net new money would flow into the stock markets of UAE and Qatar after the upgrade of the two exchanges by MSCI by the end of this month. Turnover in both countries’ stock markets has doubled this year and at least some of the meteoric performance has to owe to anticipation of the change. On […]

Mortgage buying of Dubai properties set to be curbed

|By TAP Staff|The ability of mortgaged buyers of Dubai properties  to step on to the housing ladder is set to be curbed in the near to medium term, real estate consultancy Cluttons has predicted.This in turn will impact on the volume of transactions being recorded, the agency said in its report titled Dubai Spring 2014 Residential Market Outlook. “ We are already seeing the first signs of […]

Investcorp acquires US properties

|By TAP Staff|Investcorp, a leading provider and manager of alternative investment products with more than $11 billion of assets under management, announced that its U.S.-based real estate arm, through separate transactions, acquired a portfolio of commercial and residential properties in Dallas, TX and South Florida for approximately $105 million. “The investment market in the U.S. continues to experience growth in transaction volumes with significant capital flowing into […]

Business confidence in Dubai keeps climbing

The Dubai business community has been significantly more optimistic during the first quarter of 2014, compared to the same period of the previous year. Optimism is especially high among manufacturing and services firms, according to the quarterly business survey conducted by the Department of Economic Development. The composite Business Confidence Index for Dubai stood at 135.5 points in the first quarter of 2014, an increase of 22.4 […]

Per capita spend on perfumes higher in Middle East

|By TAP Staff|Traditionally renowned for its love of fragrances, the Middle East region continues to be one of the key focus areas for international fragrance brands. With research from leading analysts Euromonitor International indicating that per capita consumption of premium fragrances in key markets such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE overshadows that of markets such as the US and the UK, it’s not surprising that the […]

ICD reveals crucial numbers in bond prospectus

|By TAP Staff|The Investment Corporation of Dubai (ICD), owner of many of Dubai’s corporate jewels, such as the Emirates airline and the airport duty-free business, said its revenues grew 18 percent to $24.8 billion in the second half of 2013. The numbers were revealed in the prospectus released in connection with the plan to raise about $750m in its first Islamic bond issue. The latest full-year revenue […]

UAE Shariah Governing Unit to oversee Islamic banking

|By TAP Staff|The UAE central bank is considering the establishment of a Shariah Governing Unit to oversee Islamic finance on the recommendations of the Islamic Banking Committee. The progress on this front was reviewed by the UAE Banks Federation at the CEO Advisory Council meeting, which focused on a number of critical issues facing the banking sector in the UAE. During the meeting, Federation’s specialised committees reported […]