GEMS Education, a Dubai-based schools operator, is seeking to raise about $500 million to fund growth by selling a stake of up to 20 percent in the privately owned company, Chairman Sunny Varkey said. GEMS, which employs about 11,000 staff, operates around 100 private schools across the Gulf region, home to many prosperous expatriates. Private schools in countries such as the United Arab Emirates are expanding rapidly […]
The notion of Syria giving up its chemical weapons, or at least putting them under foreign control, has long been on the table in the consultations between Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government and his allies in Moscow. In the course of the civil war that has been raging in Syria for more than two years, “we discussed this possibility many times from many different angles,” says Russian […]
First Gulf Bank (FGB), the United Arab Emirates’ third largest bank, is cutting about 300 jobs, equivalent to nearly 10 percent of its workforce, as part of a restructuring, sources familiar with the matter said. FGB, controlled by Abu Dhabi’s ruling family, informed employees about the plan last week and the cuts will mainly affect its consumer banking business, the sources said. They were speaking on condition […]
It would hardly be a surprise to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad or his military if American missiles start hitting Syria soon. With weeks to prepare for an attack, Assad might benefit in some ways from the delay in any strike caused by President Barack Obama’s decision to seek approval from a divided U.S. Congress. U.S. officials and defense experts say Assad’s forces cannot take enough targets out […]
President Barack Obama and his top military and national security advisers hashed out options on Saturday for responding to the alleged use of chemical weapons in Syria amid “increasing signs” that the government used poison gas against civilians. Obama spoke with British Prime Minister David Cameron, a top U.S. ally, and agreed that chemical weapon use by Syrian President Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces would merit a […]
U.S. investment bank Lazard Ltd’s most senior banker in Dubai, Ali Asghar, has left to set up his own emerging markets-focused boutique firm, three sources familiar with the matter said. Asghar, who headed Lazard’s Dubai office as a director, joined the bank in 2007 and focused on mergers and acquisitions advisory, restructuring and capital raising in the Gulf Arab region. Global investment banks scaled back their Middle […]
Airports in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) experience local disruptions – such as those that stem from fog – which, annually, affect over 200 flights and 30,000 passengers in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) alone. In addition, according to Oxford Economics, disruptions from the 2010 spread of Icelandic volcanic ash over European airspace had a $253 million net impact on the aviation sector in the Middle East […]
(Reuters) – General Motors and German chemicals firm BASF reopened facilities in Egypt on Sunday while Electrolux (ELUXb.ST) said it would partly resume operations on Monday. Electrolux, the world’s second-biggest home appliances maker with nearly 7,000 employees in Egypt, suspended production in Egypt on Wednesday due to the unstable security situation. The Swedish company, with around 10 production facilities on the outskirts of Cairo, said it was […]
Merrill Lynch & Co., the 99-year-old firm known for its “thundering herd” of brokers pitching stocks to Main Street, may cease to exist as a legal entity more than four years after being acquired by Bank of America Corp. While Bank of America will keep the Merrill Lynch brand for its retail brokerage and investment bank, the Charlotte, North Carolina-based company plans to dissolve the subsidiary as […]
Aug 13 (Reuters) – Barclays Plc is conducting a strategic review of its retail banking operations in the United Arab Emirates which could lead to a sale of the business, according to two sources familiar with the matter. Britain’s fourth-largest bank by market value confirmed on Tuesday it was holding the review of the UAE retail business but did not provide any further comment. The sources spoke […]
