By James M. Dorsey Less than a week in office, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has made blasphemy one of his first issues, empowering militants and initiating international moves, long heralded by Saudi Arabia, that would restrict press freedom by pushing for a global ban. Mr. Khan, in his first address as prime minister to the Pakistani Senate, said he intended to raise the blasphemy issue in […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| Saudi Arabia shocked global capital markets by announcing scrapping of its plan to float state-owned energy giant Aramco through an IPO, which the world was keenly looking forward to, media reports said. The initial public offering was among the initiatives announced by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as part of his ambitious plan to overhaul the Saudi economy. The Saudis had hoped to […]
By James M. Dorsey Financial injections by Qatar and possibly China may resolve Turkey’s immediate economic crisis, aggravated by a politics-driven trade war with the United States, but are unlikely to resolve the country’s structural problems, fuelled by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s counterintuitive interest rate theories. The latest crisis in Turkey’s boom-bust economy raises questions about a development model in which countries like China and Turkey witness moves towards […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) has announced the distribution of more than AED 23.4 billion in cash dividends to around 406 thousand investors on behalf of listed companies in 2018. The cash dividends paid out by listed companies increased around 5.5% compared AED 22.2 billion in the year 2017. This announcement is a confirmation of ADX’s success in providing a distinct investment climate and […]
By James M. Dorsey The failure of Western allies to rally around Canada in its dispute with Saudi Arabia risks luring the kingdom into a false belief that economic sanctions will shield it from, if not reverse mounting criticism of its human rights record and conduct of the war in Yemen. It also risks convincing Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman that acting with impunity will not impinge on […]
DP World today announces the signing of the acquisition of 100% of the Unifeeder Group for €660 million from Nordic Capital Fund VIII and certain minority shareholders. Based in Aarhus (Denmark), Unifeeder operates the largest and most densely connected common user container feeder and an important and growing shortsea network in Europe, serving both deep-sea container hubs and the intra-Europe container freight market. The Group reported revenue […]
|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| Global DP World Limited handled 35.6 million TEU (twenty-foot equivalent units) across its global portfolio of container terminals in the first half of 2018, with gross container volumes growing by 4.8% year-on-year on a reported basis and 6.0% on a like-for-like basis. The first half of 2018 continues to see an upswing in global trade and all three DP World regions delivered growth, particularly […]
By James M. Dorsey China appears to be shifting gears in its multi-billion dollar Belt and Road initiative. Long projected as driven by economics and the benefit of infrastructure linkages, China appears to be increasingly adding a security component to the initiative against the backdrop of President Xi Jinping positioning of his country as a superpower rather than a developing nation. The emergence of a security component […]
|By Arabian Posst Staff| Etihad Aviation Group (EAG) CEO Tony Douglas and Jiangsu Provincial Overseas Cooperation and Investment Company Limited (JOCIC) Chairman Luo Hua inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for a strategic partnership during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s three-day state visit to the United Arab Emirates. The two sides plan to cooperate on a wide range of areas in order to better support the development of […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| Noon, the Middle East’s homegrown digital marketplace, announced the launch of two entities in China, one on the mainland and the other in Hong Kong, kick starting noon’s Asia operations. In China, noon aims to establish a trusted network of high-quality Chinese brand owners with unique offerings, to bring the best range of products to customers in the Middle East. A dedicated noon […]
|By Arabian Post Staff|Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) announced up to 70 per cent reduction on licensing and incorporation fees within the DWTC Authority (DWTCA), a free zone offering offshore licenses for businesses, and One Central, the lifestyle development at the heart of Dubai’s Central Business District, to spur business and benefit multi-sector growth. DWTC’s programme seeks to provide highly competitive offerings with the twin objectives of […]
|By Arabian Post Staff|Dubai-based KEF Infra, part of the KEF Holdings owned by Non-Resident Indian billionaire Faizal E. Kottikollon, has merged with Katerra, a US-based family-owned construction technology business to create a US$3.75 billion conglomerate with US$8.5 billion order book. Prior to the merger, KEF Infra had US$250 million orderbook and $400 million work in the pipeline in India where the company gradually started to change the […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| The Sharjah Petroleum Council (SPC) announced it is inviting petroleum exploration and production companies and investors to bid in an inaugural onshore acreage licencing round covering three Concession areas. SPC has appointed Sharjah National Oil Corporation (SNOC) to conduct the licencing round, which will open on 25th June,offering companies 30-year contracts with a 10-year extension. “Sharjah has always strongly supported private investment, providing the appropriate economic environment to encourage sustainable […]
|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 Government’s trade licensing body – the Department of Economic Development (DED) – said, it has exempted companies and business establishments in Dubai from all fines imposed on them and granted them time till end of 2018 to renew their licenses. “The DED launched a package to make it further easier for businesses to clear fines and renew their licenses. The package will allow businesses to pay […]
|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 Saifur Rahman, Executive Editor| The International Monetary Fund (IMF) finally recognised the Islamic banking principles by endorsing a proposal on the use of the Core Principles for Islamic Finance Regulation (CPIFR), according to a statement. This effectively means that the IMF now accepts Islamic financial principles to become a globally accepted system in parallel to the conventional interest-based economy. “The CPIFR will complement the international architecture for financial […]
Etisalat Digital announced that it has signed strategic partnerships with four scale-ups as part of the ‘Dubai Future Accelerators Program,’ the world’s largest governbment supported accelerator. The 4th cohort of the ‘Dubai Future Accelerators’, launched in March this year with the participation of Etisalat Digital and other government bodies and in cooperation with the world’s most innovative companies, came to a close on xx May. The program […]
Minor International( MINT) announced that it has reached agreement to acquire 30,000,000 shares in NH Hotel Group in a transaction valued at EUR 192 million, which together with its existing shareholding will increase MINT’s stake in NH Hotel Group to 8.6% on a fully diluted basis. NH Hotel Group is the sixth largest hotel chain in Europe and this investment offers important strategic benefits to MINT which, […]
SNC-Lavalin announced that it has been awarded an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract by Central District Cooling Company, a subsidiary of Saudi Tabreed, for the expansion of its Jabal Omar Development Company (JODC) district cooling scheme in Makkah, Saudi Arabia. Under the contract, SNC-Lavalin is responsible for the design, procurement, construction and commissioning of an additional cooling capacity of 12,000 Refrigeration Tons (RT) with all associated […]
By Arabian Post Staff Macro economic and market conditions remained stable in the UAE in 2017 and the global and domestic economic growth and outlook improved during the year. In financial markets, the money market spreads, dirham-dollar forward points and credit market spreads narrowed reflecting ample liquidity and confidence in the UAE financial system. The UAE’s economic growth and outlook showed an improvement in 2017, but the […]
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 […]
