By Arabian Post Staff The return of Qatari and Saudi Arabian issuers to the market and high levels of liquidity in Indonesia as well as Turkey’s efforts to tap all available financing sources have boosted issuance of sukuk 17.6% in the first five months of 2019. Foreign currency issuances also increased 15.6% during the period, explained primarily by Turkey’s issuances but also issuances by Qatari banks and […]
By Matein Khalid Thanks to the orchestrated bullishness of a dozen Wall Street sell side analysts and the mother of all short covering rallies, Uber has managed to claw back its losses from 38 to its IPO offer price of $45 though the latest management disaster and sacking of Dara’s handpicked COO and marketing lady wunderkind will slam the shares tonight. Uber has also benefited from a […]
By Saifur Rahman Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB), the UAE’s first and largest Islamic lender, said, is set to acquire Noor Bank, enhancing Dubai’s position as the capital of Islamic economy and creating the region’s most powerful Shari’a banking group. The combined asset value is set to reach Dh275 billion post acquisition, it said. “The Board of Directors of Dubai Islamic Bank convened its meeting on 09/06/2019 and […]
By Arabian Post Staff ENOC Group has secured a five-year US$690 million term loan from a Chinese consortium of banks as China’s biggest financial institutions endorse the Group’s operational and financial health. The term loan will finance general corporate purposes as ENOC continues to fuel the local economy through its business divisions in exploration & production, supply & operations, terminals, fuel retail, aviation fuel and petroleum products […]
By James M. Dorsey A public apology by a prominent Salafi scholar sheds a light on Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman’s version of ‘moderate Islam,’ his effort to shape the Middle East and North Africa in his mould, and the replacement of religion with hyper-nationalism as the source of his legitimacy. Claiming to speak in the name of the Sahwa or Awakening movement, Aidh al-Qarni, one of the […]
By Matein Khalid Citigroup, the third largest US money center bank, owns subsidiaries in Latin America whose pedigrees go back almost a century. For instance, Banamex, Citi’s subsidiary in Mexico, is the second largest corporate/retail bank south of the Rio Grande. So it was no coincidence that Citi shares got sandbagged to a recent 61 as President Trump threatened to impose tariffs on Mexico’s $350 billion exports […]
Arabian Post Staff Saudi Arabia’s economy is expected to pick up in 2019 but a global economic slowdown and its potential impact on the global oil market could impact growth, the Kingdom’s central bank said. Saudi Arabia’s economy grew by 2.2 percent in 2018, driven by the oil sector, compared to a decline of 0.7 percent in 2017, the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA) said in a […]
The foreign exchange market is gaining in popularity as more exposure of how it works spreads online. It is the world’s most traded market, turning over more than $5 trillion every day and it is openly accessible and relatively easy to start. One of the key attractions of forex is that the market operates 24 hours a day. There isn’t any one centralized place for forex – […]
By Saifur Rahman The oil-rich Gulf countries have started to introduce permanent residency to wealthy foreigners in order to retain the existing businesses and attract more foreign investors to support the economic growth. Within days after Saudi Arabia announcing a ‘Green Card’ scheme for wealthy foreigners, the UAE on Tuesday announced a similar package – Golden Card – to retain the super-rich expatriates and attract more. Vice […]
/By Matein Khalid/ Despite the global fame of its brand ambassadors Leonardo DiCaprio and Snoop Dog, Alternative faux meat specialist Beyond Meat (symbol BYND) electrified Wall Street with its white-hot IPO. The recent panic in financial markets and rising geopolitical risk in the Middle East did not prevent Beyond Meat’s $240 million IPO from being a fabulous winner, rising from 25 to 89 as I write. Of […]
Starzplay, the Dubai-based subscription video on demand (SVOD) start-up, has now higher subscribers than Netflix – the global SVOD leader – in the Middle East and North Africa, a top official claimed. “In January 2019, we have reached 1 million subscribers in the Middle East – higher than Netflix,” Maaz Sheikh, CEO of Starzplay, told The Arabian Post, on the sidelines of a press briefing on Monday […]
By Matein Khalid I had published a column in the UK/MENA press arguing that the Uber IPO was “absurdly valued” last week. I was vindicated with a vengeance when Uber priced its IPO at 45, well below the level Saudi Arabia’s uber-sovereign wealth fund PIF invested $3.5 billion in the hose of Travis (now Dara) three years ago. Uber opened on the NYSE with a whimper, not […]
By Arabian Post Staff Supply disruptions in the Middle East on top of an already tight crude market could send oil prices violently upward, according to Rystad Energy. Two Saudi Arabian oil tankers were reportedly attacked off the coast of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) this weekend, sending crude futures sharply up Monday morning. Commenting on the incident, Bjørnar Tonhaugen, Head of Oil Market Research at Rystad […]
/By Matein Khalid/Are we on the precipice of another spasm of intercontinental contagion in the emerging markets like 2018, or the Asian flu, tequila crisis, Russian rouble default or the Turkish banking crisis in the 1990’s. Yes. The Shanghai Composite Index has plunged 12% and (17% fall for Shenzhen) since Trump got nasty on the tortuous US-China trade dialogue. The IMF cut its global growth forecast to […]
/By Matein Khalid/ Uber Technologies goes public in the most controversial and global tech IPO since Facebook seven years ago. Uber bulls claim that the ride sharing colossus is another embryonic Amazon, a firm that will dominate the digital constellation of the next two decades. I disagree. Uber loses $4 billion per annum and has already been forced to surrender Russia/CIS to Yandex, China to Didi and […]
/Arabian Post Staff/ Emirates Group, which operates Emirates Airline – the world’s largest international carrier – reported a 44 percent decline in profits to US$631 million (Dh2.3 billion) in 2018-19 financial year ending March 31, 2019, despite achieving a 7 percent growth in revenue to reach US$29.8 billion (Dh109.3 billion). In line with the overall profit, the Group declared a dividend of Dh500 million (US$136 million) to its shareholder, […]
By Gaurav Sharma The oil and gas industry is on the cusp of profound operational changes underpinned by emerging technologies. The transformative impact of this new wave – labelled the fourth industrial revolution or Industry 4.0 – is being felt to such an extent that the International Energy Agency (IEA) has started factoring in probable additional global oil reserves courtesy optimised conventional and unconventional production. Dr Fatih […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| Emaar Group is marking an industry-first by leveraging the significant potential of blockchain technology with plans to offer the Emaar community token for customers and partners by the year end. This highlights Emaar’s intense focus on innovation and providing the most complete experience to drive customer service, loyalty and referral across its businesses, thereby enhancing customer satisfaction, growth and profitability. Emaar grew revenues […]
|By Arabian Post Staff|In a pivotal geopolitical shift, the United States will soon export more oil and liquids than Saudi Arabia. This remarkable turnaround is made possible by the continued rise in oil production from US shale plays and the increased oil export capacity from the Gulf Coast. The US has for decades relied on large-scale imports to satisfy its thirst for oil, but this is about […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| The current global energy transition is driving an “inevitable geopolitical shift” and creating “unique opportunities not seen in generations,” according to a Winton Group-backed advanced energy investment firm. This analysis by Dr Erich Becker, Founder and Managing Partner of London-based energy investment firm, Exergy Capital, comes as momentum builds across the world on the seismic shift towards cleaner energy sources, and with oil […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| 5G is expected to reach 30 million subscriptions for enhanced mobile broadband in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) by the end of 2024, representing 2% of total mobile subscriptions. This will make 5G the fastest generation of cellular technology to be rolled out on a global scale, according to the new MEA edition of the Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) Mobility Report. Key drivers […]
|By Arabian Post Staff|ENOC Group has announced a strategic alliance with Indian Oil Company (IOC), the largest commercial oil and gas company in India worth US$63 billion, in a joint effort to expand its global footprint while building on IOC’s R&D infrastructure to mitigate future manufacturing challenges. The ENOC-IOC partnership includes R&D efforts, to jointly develop cylinder oil compliant to the Sulphur cap of 0.5 percent from […]
|By James M. Dorsey| Continued, albeit slower-paced US and Turkish leaks potentially provide insight into far more than the circumstances of the October killing of Saudi journalist and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. They focus attention on crown prince Mohammed bin Salman’s strategic thinking as well as his tightened control of the kingdom’s media. In the latest disclosure, The New York Times, quoting anonymous US intelligence sources, reported […]
|By Arabian Post Staff|The Port Fund announced it has finally secured the release of $496 million in investor funds that have been frozen at Noor Bank in Dubai for over 14 months, allowing the fund to immediately begin repaying its investors. The money consists of proceeds earned by The Port Fund through the 2017 sale of a development project in the Philippines. In November 2017, as the proceeds of that sale were being […]
