The stock of GCC bonds (both conventional and sukuk) increased healthily during the first six months of the year, the National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) report said. Private sector issuance maintained a strong pace, dominating the GCC’s fixed income activity, driven by the non-financial sector, which also experienced its best six months yet. The stock of outstanding GCC fixed income instruments rose to 239.8 billion at the […]
By Cristiane Lucchesi – Aug 14, 2013 (Bloomberg) Mubadala Development Co., the Abu Dhabi sovereign-wealth fund, is in talks to buy some of the assets of former Brazilian billionaire Eike Batista for about $1 billion, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said. The negotiations are for stakes in oil producer OGX Petroleo (OGXP3) & Gas Participacoes SA, MMX Mineracao & Metalicos SA and LLX Logistica […]
(Reuters) – The Dubai arm of Australian contractor Leighton Holdings is seeking more than 1 billion dirhams ($272 million) from a prominent member of Qatar’s royal family in compensation for late payments on a hotel project in the Qatari capital. Dubai-based Al Habtoor Leighton Group (HLG) said it had launched a series of suits against Sheikh Faisal Bin Qassim al-Thani’s Al Faisal Holding in relation to the […]
Two Gulf Arab borrowers have attracted heavy investor demand for international bond sales in the past two weeks, but higher yield premiums are prompting many other potential issuers in the region to seek alternative funding sources. In the case of Saudi Arabia, companies that might have issued bonds in the international market may now choose to issue in the country’s liquid riyal-denominated bond market. In May, a […]
Abu Dhabi developer Aldar Properties laid out plans to cut its $3.8 billion debt by more than half in coming years as it starts to recover from a real estate slump and reaps the benefits of a merger with its main rival. Chief Financial Officer Greg Fewer said revenue would start to improve in the third quarter as Aldar benefits from Sorouh’s revenue stream and would grow […]
DUBAI, Aug 7 (Reuters) – Two Gulf Arab borrowers have attracted heavy investor demand for international bond sales in the past two weeks, but higher yield premiums are prompting many other potential issuers in the region to seek alternative funding sources. U.S. dollar bond issuance in the Gulf, conventional and sukuk, stands at about $17.3 billion year-to-date, up from $11.4 billion in the same period a year […]
By Gerald Al Fil While the comeback of stock market rallies investment banking, the Shari’ah-compliant industry faces its toughest test since it entered its boom phase a decade ago. I got puzzled when I received a tweet from @Worldmuslimnews on May 11 saying “Islamic finance is out”. Are issuances of Islamic bonds (sukuk) not going through the roof as we can read day by day? Could first […]
CHICAGO (MarketWatch) — In a world where financial rescues dominate headlines, U.S. government bond funds played hero yet again, rescuing portfolios in a tough second quarter. Sound familiar? Analysts have been pegging the end of the decades-long (and surely stretched?) Treasury rally ad nauseam. But Europe’s festering credit crisis, weakening Chinese economic growth, and a bumpy U.S. recovery combine to pressure the Federal Reserve and its counterparts […]
Treasury yields fell close to all- time lows as an almost insatiable desire for the safest assets amid signs global growth is stalling helped the U.S. draw record rates at 10- and 30-year debt auctions. U.S. government debt rallied for a third consecutive week as Europe’s economy slipped toward its second recession in three years amid a worsening debt crisis, lower-than-forecast growth in China and the Federal […]
Despite the recent run of disappointing economic data, a broad range of experts and forecasters expect the economy to improve slightly in coming months, thanks to lower oil prices and new signs of life from sectors like automobile sand housing. Call it a firming up, if not quite a comeback. Economists at many of the most-watched forecasting organizations, both public and private, expect growth to pick up […]
