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Talking Point

|By Arabian Post Staff| Emaar Chairman and leading Dubai businessman Mohammed Alabbar’s investment consortium Adeptio is learnt to have secured commitments worth $1.5 billion to fund its pursuit of regional KFC operator Americana. The banks lending money for the acquisition reportedly include Citigroup,  Standard Chartered , Credit Suisse Group AG, National Bank of Abu Dhabi, Emirates NBD, First Gulf Bank and Bahrain-based Ahli United Bank. Earlier this year, Adeptio had […]

Columns

|By Matein Khalid| “Stop the murder, stop the lies, out, out, you nest of spies!” So chanted the crowd outside South Africa House on Trafalgar Square in the autumnal mists of London circa 1988. The anti-apartheid struggle was the moral compass of my generation, from the Soweto riots to Steve Biko’s murder to the horrific “necklacings in the townships and killing fields of the Limpopo to Madiba’s release […]

Featured

|By Arabian Post Staff|The Dodsal Group, a Dubai-based business conglomerate currently operating in countries in MENA and East Africa region and India, has struck an expansive sweep of gas resources on its onshore concession, valued at $8 billion as per current market prices, the company announced. In July 2015, the Group had marked its first natural gas discovery in the country of 2.17 TCF in the Mambakofi […]

Banking & Finance, Featured

|By Arabian Post Staff| Hedge funds which bet on Saudi riyal’s dollar peg are reported to have lost heavily as the price rebound in the oil has apparently removed all immediate possibilities of Saudi Arabia abandoning the currency’s peg with the dollar. Several US hedge funds are understood to be among the losers. According to Bloomberg, contracts used to speculate on the kingdom’s exchange rate in the […]

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Economy

|By Arabian Post Staff| Dubai-based Al Shafar General Contracting (ASGC) plans to revive its stalled IPO plan at an appropriate time, according to chief executive Bishoy Azmy. Al Shafar had made significant progress with its planned IPO last year, but the plan was put on hold in the wake of the market turning bad following the trouble in the global stock markets over problems with the Chinese economy.  The company […]

Economy

|By Arabian Post Staff|The impact of the massive decline in oil prices has finally reached the door steps of the banking industry and some banks have been affected more than the others. According to a new study by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), the banking industry in the GCC grew at a lower rate in 2015 than it did in 2014 with just a 7.2 percent increase, […]

Featured

|By Arabian Post Staff| The much-expected boom for trade hubs like Dubai from the opening up of Iran market has not materialised yet, as traders still face several impediments to doing business with that country. While it is true that global majors have announced a series of major deals with Teheran, investors are showing continued reluctance to enter Iran due to the impact of the US sanctions […]

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|By Arabian Post Staff| Mubadala’s prestigious business of aircraft parts supply faces the prospects of another Middle East player entering the field,  with Iran planning a parts making plant with Airbus. The Abu Dhabi-based Strata has $7.5 billion worth of orders from both Airbus and Boeing Co. for up to 2030. Iran’s alignment with Airbus is becoming clearer following the signing of a milestone agreement to purchase 118 jetliners from the European […]

Economy

|By Arabian Post Staff|DP World’s gross debt rose to $7.6 billion, with the net debt climbing to $6.2 billion, the company announced in its financial results for the calendar year 2015. The balance sheet shows a leverage of 3.2 times. The increase in debt is mainly due to the addition of the $650 million JAFZA Sukuk following the EZW acquisition and the additional $500 million borrowings from […]

Economy

|By Arabian Post Staff| A sudden spurt in the number of new project announcements despite the weakening sentiments and a clear downturn in property prices is stoking fears of a 2008-style default revisiting the Dubai property market. The phase has even seen the revival of some of the grandiose schemes announced during the peak of the boom period, but got abandoned later as the crisis began to […]

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Banking & Finance, Featured

|By Arabian Post Staff| While market speculation about a possible de-pegging or devaluation of the dollar by GCC countries is going forward, a number of disincentives to such a move are continuing to force a status quo, at least in the short to medium term. Analysts note that a more flexible foreign exchange regime could allow the GCC to adjust to real shocks better, the gains in […]

Featured

|By  Arabian Post Staff| Wealthy Chinese, who are emerging as a new force in overseas real estate investments, are consistently raising their profile in the Dubai property market as well. According to Nakheel sources, Chinese bought 70 percent of its almost 600 townhouses sold at Warsan Villa close to its Dragoncity shopping mall, where Chinese merchants offer their wares in the biggest Chinese market outside mainland China. […]

Economy

|By Arabian Post Staff|  The benefits of this prolonged period of very low oil prices are diminishing for some corporate finance sectors or even starting to have a negative impact on others, Moody’s Investors Service said in a report. The exploration & production, oilfield services, building materials and steel industries continue to bear the immediate effects of low oil prices. The global oversupply, combined with additional exports […]

Real Estate & Construction

|By Arabian Post Staff| The introduction of a new technique, using excavators that could virtually be called concrete-eaters, is set to revolutionize the way high rise structures are demolished in the UAE. The new method reduces the time required to bring down a high rise structure to a matter of days, instead of months and years required by conventional methods. The shorter time frames would mean much quicker […]

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Economy

|By Arabian Post Staff| The route to implementing a corporate income tax in the UAE would appear to be more treacherous and uncertain than the road to VAT, which the government has planned for a 2018 launch. Deloitte said in a report. UAE, along with other GCC governments are thinking seriously about broadening the corporate income tax bases and increasing rates. But Deloitte points out that the […]

Economy

|By Arabian Post Staff| Pakistanis are the third largest non-Arab expatriate group investing in Dubai real estate, according to the Dubai Land Department (DLD). Pakistanis invested AED 8 billion in Dubai properties in 2015, out of the total investment from non-Arab expats surpassing AED 74 billion. Compared to 2014, their investment in the Dubai property market increased 6.7 per cent in 2015. With an investment of AED 30.64 […]

Economy

|By Arabian Post Staff| Moody’s has placed United Arab Emirates, along with Abu Dhabi emirate,  under review for a possible downgrade. The action was also applied to all GCC countries, including Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Abu Dhabi’s (Aa2 stable) economic growth could come under pressure this year amid government spending cutbacks in response to lower oil prices,  Moody’s Investors Service said in a report. Moody’s estimates that […]

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Banking & Finance

|By Arabian Post Staff| Citibank has clarified that the ‘technical glitch’ that caused transmission of SMS messages to credit card customers about certain mysterious credit card transactions that they did not initiate has been resolved and there  has been no data breach or compromising of personal information. The problem affected only a limited number of customers, the bank said further. Citibank credit card customers were on Friday surprised to […]

Featured

|By Arabian Post Staff| Dubai won a huge moral victory when DP World, one of its prestigious companies, yesterday secured a favourable verdict in an English court in an ongoing legal battle with the Djibouti government over the concession to run a container terminal in the African country. The government of the East African country had launched arbitration proceedings in a London court as it alleged that […]

Economy

|By Arabian Post Staff| The need to part-finance funding gaps by the GCC countries through sovereign US dollar debt will complicate their efforts to refinance the bonds and loans maturing this year and the next, HSBC warned in a report on the GCC finances. Some $94 billion in foreign currency denominated bonds and syndicated loans by GCC countries are maturing this year or the next year, which […]

Economy

|By Arabian Post Staff| Investment Corporation of Dubai is seeking to raise over a billion dollars for its real estate projects, people familiar with the move have been reported as saying. The banks being approached apparently include Emirates NBD, Dubai Islamic Bank and Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank. The projects are said to include a new Atlantis resort Palm Jumeirah island and a new tower at the DIFC. […]

Featured

|By Arabian Post Staff|The announcement by Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman about a possible floatation of state-owned oil firm Aramco is part of a larger game plan, a report by a US private intelligence corporation has concluded. “Whether or not the IPO happens is not important. What is vitally important is that it was publicly discussed by the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia. He was […]

Economy

|By Arabian Post Staff| L&T Financial Services , a subsidiary of L&T Capital Markets Limited (LTCML), has upgraded its DIFC licence to launch wealth management services. The firm has so far been operating as a representative office. The Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) has now upgraded to Category 4 whereby, LTCML, DIFC Branch will be regulated by DFSA to offer Wealth Management Solutions. The company will now […]

Economy

/By Arabian Post Staff/ Despite the recent price bounce in oil, turmoil in the sector may be far from over, Bank of America Merrill Lynch said in a report. Defaults are rising across smaller oil and gas producers and risks are rising for larger ones too, it said. Total energy debt in default has now reached $18 billion, suggesting the credit cycle will mark a floor on […]

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Economy

/By Arabian Post Staff/ Emirates National Oil Company (ENOC) plans to increase its retail business by 40 per cent between 2016 and 2020 across its network of service stations in the UAE. The growth plans include the construction of 54 more stations in Dubai. The expansion will meet ENOC’s long-term strategic objectives which are aligned with the Dubai Plan 2021 of creating a ‘Smart & Sustainable City’ […]

Featured

/By Arabian Post Staff/ Zurich Insurance Group AG has started a process to exit from its general insurance business in the Middle East, pronouncements by the company executives indicated. Zurich’s general insurance chief Kristof Terryn last week said in an interview that the Middle East business has been put into a ‘run-off’ in view of the ‘limited potential’ of general insurance in the region. It will, however, […]

Featured

/By Arabian Post Staff/ Standard & Poor’s has re-affirmed its view that Saudi riyal peg to the dollar, a subject currently topping market debate, is unlikely to be changed over the next few years. The rating agency’s rationale is that at a time of already significant change and regional geopolitical instability, politically conservative regimes such as those in the GCC are unlikely to increase uncertainty about their […]

Economy, Real Estate & Construction

|By Arabian Post Staff| Ajman-based Tech Group, comprising a number of construction verticals, announced an investment of $100 million for the next three years, in what the company declares as an endorsement of the positive outlook for the country’s construction industry. Piling Tech, one of the group companies specializing in foundation engineering, design engineering and boring and driven piling systems, has acquired a new set of Soilmec […]

Featured

|By Arabian Post Staff| Stability in office rents in Dubai’s main markets persisted throughout Q1 2016 as a result of continued high demand from both international and domestic occupiers, according to leading real estate consultancy Cluttons. Showcasing the performance of 22 submarkets across the city in the first quarter of the year with the use of heat maps, Cluttons’ first office market bulletin highlights that, 13 submarkets […]

Middle East

Video Bashar al-Jaafari, the Syrian government’s chief negotiator, blamed the opposition for the postponement of the talks, calling them a failure. By NICK CUMMING-BRUCE and SOMINI SENGUPTA February 3, 2016 GENEVA — The United Nations on Wednesday temporarily suspended the fledgling talks aimed at ending the war in Syria and called on the countries fueling the conflict to do more to yield results, as Syrian government forces sharply escalated an offensive […]

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