|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 […]
Boom and bust – two words that are regularly heard when the property market in the United Arab Emirates, especially Dubai, is discussed. But that theme appears to be changing. At least that’s what some industry experts are indicating. The property market, after rebounding sharply since early 2013 from the global financial crisis-induced crash, is now showing signs of stabilising – with the pace of growth in […]
KKR ‘s Samie says the key challenges in the region are valuations, regulations and issues with minority ownership. Nicolas Parasie for The Wall Street Journal KKR & Co. has been in the Middle East and North Africa since 2008. In what could be one of the largest buyout deals ever in the region, the New York-based private equity giant is jointly bidding for Kuwait’s Americana. The Wall […]
Savola Group, a Saudi Arabian food producer, hired JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM) to advise on a potential bid for the operator of KFC restaurants in the Middle East and North Africa, according to four people with knowledge of the matter. Non-binding bids for the $4.3 billion Kuwait Food business, known as Americana, are due next month, the people said, asking not to be identified as the […]
|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 […]
UAE. Two-thirds (66 percent) of millennial high-frequency travellers rate “unique rewards” as an important factor when choosing a hotel loyalty program, compared with just 43 percent of their older counterparts, according to a new Deloitte study, “Winning the Race for Guest Loyalty”. “Our study indicates that customers are waiting to see which program will provide them with the greatest relevant rewards before they commit to a brand, […]
On the face of it, Jordan must be a tough sell to international investors: there is the ubiquitous threat of instability and violence lurking from neighboring Syria and Iraq while the kingdom’s small economy, which is reliant on foreign aid, is strained by high unemployment and budget deficits. Nonetheless, some foreign private equity groups are willing to take the risk. Buyout giant Carlyle Group last year bought […]
|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 Winfried Weber| German Mittelstand has become a new role model for managers from all over the world. A pilot study of Mannheim Institute of Applied Management Research found that mostly managers from Asia and emerging countries are attracted by the German Mittelstand model and send delegations to learn more about it. They come directly to Germany as the management education programs taught at business schools or […]
Rashidul Bari was born in Bangladesh in 1979 and has been studying in the United States since 2000. He considers himself one-half servant of education and one-half writer. He has earned five bachelor’s degrees, BA in political science, BA in economics, BA in mathematics, BA in computer science and BA in physics respectively, from three different CUNY institutions: York College, City College of New York and Lehman […]
|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 […]
On pins and needles for your new iPhone? Prepare to wait a little longer: Apple exhausted its pre-order supply of the iPhone 6 Plus on Friday. By 9:00 a.m. EDT, the iPhone 6 Plus was listed on Apple’s U.S. online store as scheduled to ship three to four weeks after ordering. The iPhone 6 remained in stock, at least on the Apple store, with deliveries promised by […]
By K Raveendran at CeBIT Eurasia, Istanbul Turkey’s Aktif Bank has no branches. In fact, in 2007, when the bank embarked on its journey, it did not even have a signboard. But today, the bank has one of the country’s fastest growing customer bases and every man on the street is its potential customer. Modelled as a ‘shop in shop’, its products and services are sold by […]
By K Raveendran at CeBit Eurasia, Istanbul Deutsche Messe, organisers of CeBIT technology shows and global conferences, is keenly watching the success of Dubai’s Gitex but is for the present content with carrying on with CeBIT Eurasia Turkey as the regional edition, although the leading global technology show organizer considers Dubai as a most desirable venue. Deuteche Messe apparently believes that Gitex is such a strong contender […]
A new computer Trojan may be targeting clients of Salesforce.com, the company announced in a security warning posted on its Web site. The malware, known as Dyre or Dyreza, appears to be a variation of the previously known Zeus Trojan, which had been known to target banking Web sites in search of financial accounts. According to Salesforce, the vulnerability was discovered by one of its security partners […]
Dubai’s boom-and-bust real estate market can land you at the wheel of a Rolls-Royce or behind bars. Kabir Mulchandani should know: he’s experienced both. Five years after spending 140 days in jail facing charges of fraud and embezzlement for which he ultimately was cleared, the chairman of developer SKAI Holdings stands at a building site watching cranes start work on one of the company’s three projects. They […]
Kuwait’s Global Investment House said on Tuesday it aimed to relist its shares on the Kuwaiti bourse, after its listing was cancelled last year because of accumulated debt. In an interview with Reuters, Global’s chief executive Maha Al Ghoneim said the company was now “debt-free” following its debt restructuring last year. She added that the relisting would be discussed at an annual general meeting next Sunday. Subject […]
Last year, coworking spaces became all the rage in Dubai as entrepreneurs sought a place to get together and build nascent startups. Now, Google Inc. has also got in on the act. The tech giant has teamed up with the cofounders of online shopping website Namshi to create a “Google for Entrepreneurs” Tech Hub in Dubai. The space will open in 2015 and be run by AstroLabs, […]
By Bjørn K. Haugland & Erik Rasmussen How can we use the pressure from global risks such as extreme weather or water scarcity to create new sustainable business opportunities? This might be the single most important question for any company today. In current strategizing and business developing, we are very good at spotting risks associated with the sustainability challenges facing us. Markets will change, access to critical […]
By Leila Abboud PARIS Mon Sep 8, 2014 12:50pm IST A computer user poses in front of a Google search page in this photo illustration taken in Brussels May 30, 2014. Credit: Reuters/Francois Lenoir/Files A panel appointed by search engine Google will hold the first of a series of meetings on Tuesday to debate the balance between privacy and the free flow of information after a May […]
Photo: Alamy When we were young, my brother and I used to argue with our parents over bedtime, pushing it later and later so that we could squeeze in more stories. Beatrix Potter’s were our favourites, though my dad preferred Tom Sawyer. My mum and dad always read us to sleep, and when I was older, I waited to hear their footsteps on the stairs. As soon […]
By Paul Carsten BEIJING Mon Sep 8, 2014 11:12am IST A picture illustration shows a WeChat app icon in Beijing, December 5, 2013. Credit: Reuters/Petar Kujundzic/Files BEIJING (Reuters) – Apple Inc has a lot for which to thank people like Deng. A Beijing-based quality analyst, she gave only her surname as she’s embarrassed by how much money she spends playing mobile games on WeChat, a hugely popular […]
