By James M. Dorsey Traditionally focussed on ultra-conservative Sunni Muslim Islam, Saudi funding in the era of crown prince Mohammed bin Salman has been streamlined and finetuned to ensure that it serves his geopolitical ambitions, primarily stymying the expansion of Iranian influence in the Middle East and North Africa and enhancing the kingdom’s global impact. The effort, however, has so far produced a mixed bag. Spending is […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| DP World said it will continue to pursue all legal means to defend its rights as a shareholder and concessionaire in Doraleh Container Terminal SA (DCT) in the face of Djibouti’s blatant disregard for the rule of law and respect for commercial contracts. On 9 September the President of Djibouti enacted a decree which purportedly transferred the shareholding of Port de Djibouti SA […]
|By Arabian Post Staff|An Arbitral Tribunal of the London Court of International Arbitration confirmed the illegitimacy of the Government of Djibouti’s action of seizing control of the Doraleh Container Terminal from DP World. The LCIA Tribunal has ruled that Doraleh Container Terminal’s Concession Agreement “remains valid and binding notwithstanding Law 202 and the 2018 Decrees”. Law 202 and the referenced decrees were devices enacted by Djibouti to […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| After a landmark ruling in Germany last week that social media accounts can be inherited by a person’s beneficiaries, DIFC has announced that those who register inheritance Wills with the authority can include such assets in their Wills. Lawyers and lawmakers around the globe have been grappling with the legal status of online assets, not just personal data on sites such as Facebook […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| Abraaj Holdings, Abraaj Investment Management Limited and Colony Capital, Inc., through the Group’s Joint Provisional Liquidators, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Deloitte, announced that they have reached agreement on the principal terms for the sale and purchase of the Group’s Latin America, Sub Saharan Africa, North Africa and Turkey Funds management business and the Group’s Limited Partnership interests in the underlying Funds, along with staff in the eight offices being […]
Dubai property developer Danube Properties announced the launch of its 11th project, a Dh550 million Lawnz at the International City.Construction of the project is expected to start in 2018 with completion in 2020. Lawnz is Danube Properties’ first project at the International City and its first gated complex. “This is our biggest project so far that will add 1,064 units to our existing portfolio and we are […]
|By Matein Khalid| Crude oil prices plunged by 7% in two sessions as Saudi Arabia and Russia confirmed that they would release 1 million barrels a day in the wet barrel markets. Speculative froth in the oil futures markets vanished, to be replaced by a new trading calculus based on the realities of supply and demand – as well as the unknowable (and unquantifiable!) arc of […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| Saudi enforcement courts revealed the recovery of more than 3.4 billion dollars (around 13 billion Saudi Riyals) after enforcing a number of foreign rulings. The rulings came from foreign arbitration committees and foreign courts from a number of countries around the world concerning individuals, companies and entities inside the Kingdom. The most recent one came from a Court in Virginia, forcing a Saudi tourism company to pay $3,758,000 (SAR […]
By James M. Dorsey Ousted Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif kicked up a storm when he earlier this month seemingly admitted that Pakistan had supported militants who attacked multiple targets in Mumbai in 2008, killing 166 people. Mr. Sharif’s admission, which he has since tried to walk back, put a finger on Pakistan’s controversial policy of selective support of militant groups at a sensitive time. Pakistan is gearing up for elections that […]
|By Matein Khalid| I had written an article titled “six reasons to be bullish Saudi equities in 2018, published in the KT on January 28. Yet I was surprised to see Saudi Arabian equities become the world’s second best performing stock market in 2018 after Egypt. The Saudi equity index fund (KSA) I recommended in my column is up 18% at a time when the MSCI emerging markets […]
By James M. Dorsey Bangladesh, in a twist of irony, is looking to Saudi Arabia to fund a $ 1 billion plan to build hundreds of mosques and religious centres to counter militant Islam that for much of the past decade traced its roots to ultra-conservative strands of the faith promoted by a multi-billion dollar Saudi campaign. The Bangladeshi plan constitutes the first effort by a Muslim country to enlist […]
|By Matein Khalid| I had projected a bloodbath in the US Treasury bond market since late 2016, when it was obvious that Trump’s tax reform would double the US budget deficit at the same time as the Federal Reserve prepared to “normalize” or shrink its balance sheet by $470 billion. Fiscal stimulus is often a policy ballast amid a depression, as in the early 1980’s or 2009, not […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| ADNOC Distribution, the retail and fuel-selling arm of Abu Dhabi’s state-owned oil company, will be valued at $8.5 billion — around the middle of a range of possible valuations — when trading opens on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) next week. The sale of 10 percent of the unit in an initial public offering (IPO) was oversubscribed “multiple” times by institutional investors, and […]
|By Matein Khalid|I am often asked by investors to articulate my “philosophy” of real estate investing. Tough question. My ideal deal is one where it is possible to buy brick and mortar assets at 60 – 70% of replacement cost. This usually occurs in the aftermath of a banking crisis or economic shock. This was the case in Florida homes in 2009 or Spanish office space in […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| Dubai has a new law law concerning the registration of Wills by non-Muslims in the Emirate of Dubai. The law was issued byy Dubai Ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. The new law will create legal certainty for the inheritance of a non-Muslim expatriate’s assets after death and the appointment of guardians for their children. This not only allows individuals to have testamentary freedom […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| Japanese retailer Daiso opened at Bawabat Al Sharq Mall in Abu Dhabi this week. The newly opened store is the 11th store in Abu Dhabi and the 32nd in the UAE, bringing the total count in the GCC region to 49. The store is located on the first floor of the mall, opposite the Food Court, and boasts of 4,500 square feet. Daiso […]
|By Arabian Post Staff|The Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB ) announcement of new Shari’ah governance regulations applicable to wholesale and retail Islamic banks in Bahrain are a positive development, Moody’s said in a report. Effective June 2018, the new regulations will make Islamic banks subject to an Independent External Shari’ah Compliance Audit, to ensure that all Islamic banks activities are Shari’ah compliant. Additionally, all internal Shari’ah board […]
|By F R Chowdhury| Myanmar (previously known as Burma) is a vast country of 676,550 sq. km. or 261,217 sq. miles on the north-east coast of Bay of Bengal. Basically it is between Bangladesh and Thailand though it has also long common border with India and China. Its population is only about 49 million. Majority are Buddhists. Next large population is ethnic Bengali Muslims and a small percentage […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| Dubai’s DIFC Courts witnessed sustained growth in the first six months of 2017, with the English-language, common law judiciary continuing to help global businesses resolve their largest and most complex disputes while becoming the increasingly preferred forum for settling the smaller claims of corporations, SMEs and individuals. The workload of the main Court of First Instance (CFI), including arbitration-related cases and counter claims, […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| The DIFC Courts announced the passing away of Sir Anthony Colman after a short illness in hospital in England last week. He was appointed as a Judge of the DIFC Courts from 2008, serving as Deputy Chief Justice from June 2010 until his retirement in May 2013. From 2013 onwards, Sir Anthony continued as a Judge at the Courts, overseeing ongoing cases initiated before […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| UAE-based conglomerate Al Ghurair announced a partnership with AccorHotels to launch the upper-upscale Swissôtel and Swissôtel Living in the Al Ghurair Centre. With over 4,000 hotels, resorts and residences, as well as over 2,500 of private homes around the globe under the AccorHotels banner, this reflag marks Swissôtel’s first entry into the UAE market. Known for the famous Swiss hospitality, Swissôtel upholds industry-leading […]
|By Saifur Rahman| As many as 1.43 million bank cheques – worth Dh75.77 billion (US$20.64 billion) – out of 31.36 million issued in 2016 were returned, according to the UAE Central Bank. On an average, each bounced cheque carried a sum of Dh52,732. The number of cheques placed with banks averaged 2.61 million per month, or nearly 85,933 per day. The total amount of money involved in 31.36 million […]
|By Arabian Post Staff|The London High Court has upheld the injunction granted to ICICI Bank UK against leading diamond merchant family of Mehtas, considered legends in the diamond trading business and pioneers in Indian industry’s inroads to Antwerp. This means that the well-known Mehta family of Belgium lost their bid in London’s High Court to unfreeze certain of their family members’ assets, as they continue to be […]
Tuesday’s court filing argues that UnitedHealth repeatedly ignored findings from its own auditors that risk scores were often inflated, as well as warnings by officials from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) that the firm was responsible for ensuring the billings it submitted were accurate. UnitedHealth argued that it had done nothing wrong, and said it would aggressively contest the case. “We are confident our company […]
