Oman developer Muriya has announced the expansion of its Salalah Beach resort, with the addition of 84 extra keys. The additional rooms have been added to the Fanar Hotel & Residences, taking the total number of rooms at the Salalah Beach development to close to 800, the company said in a statement. The company said the expansion is part of its plans to transform Salalah into the […]
US and European authorities eased enforcement of new derivatives rules on Thursday less than a week before the standards come into effect, allowing small financial institutions more time to prepare for the wide-ranging reforms. In a series of statements hours apart, supervisory watchdogs bowed to growing concerns of a potential dislocation in the swaps market and hundreds of unprepared pension funds, asset managers and credit institutions likely […]
Islamabad: Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif would soon know his political fate with the SupremeCourt on Thursday saying that it would come out with a detailed judgement in the high-profile Panama Papers case. File image of Nawaz Sharif. Reuters The apex court, which completed hearing the case on Thursday, reserved its verdict to a later date. The case pertains to investments allegedly made by Sharif and members of his family in Mossack […]
Beirut, 23 February 2017 Ipsos, the number one research company in Middle East and North Africa, and Nielsen, a global performance management company that provides a comprehensive understanding of what consumers Watch and Buy, released their official results for Television Audience Measurement (TAM) for 2016 in Lebanon, during a gathering at Phoenicia Hotel in Beirut. The event took place in the presence of key representatives from the […]
Vodafone Australia has reported a net loss of AU$241.8 million for the first half of FY17 on total revenue of AU$3.35 billion, an 8.4 percent year-on-year decrease. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) were AU$912.2 million, a 12.2 percent increase from the AU$812.8 million reported for the first half of FY16. Net average revenue per user (ARPU) was AU$37.97, a loss of AU$7.71 from last […]
Goldman Sachs, the last bank on Wall Street to handle significant physical volumes of oil and gas, has pushed back against a planned crackdown on combining finance with commodities trading. The institution warned the Federal Reserve to carefully weigh the effects on markets and companies as it sought to levy steep capital charges against a bank’s holdings of bulk materials. In its letter to the Fed dated […]
Fitch Ratings-Moscow-22 February 2017 Fitch Ratings has affirmed the Long-Term Issuer Default Ratings (IDRs) of five UAE banks with Stable Outlook and maintained Rating Watch Positive (RWP) on First Gulf Bank’s (FGB) IDRs. The agency also downgraded the Viability Rating of Union National Bank (UNB) to ‘bbb-‘ from ‘bbb’. A full list of rating actions is at the end of this commentary. KEY RATING DRIVERS IDRs, SUPPORT […]
Submitted by Chris Hamilton via Econimica blog, I’m dazed & confused…economists and the consensus all acknowledge 2001 and 2007 were low interest rate, debt driven financial and economic bubbles. However, somehow today’s even lower interest rate environment resulting in an additional $9.5 trillion in equity valuation from the last bubble peak…this one is legit and isn’t a bubble??? What I’m even more confused about is who, exactly, is buying all the […]
The global Panama Papers investigation is based on the unprecedented leak of confidential information from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca. (Arnulfo Franco / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO) In Brisbane and Ankara, Harare and Quito, Berlin and New York, the Panama Papers investigation into tax haven abuses has been recognized with some of the most prestigious journalistic accolades on the planet. The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, which […]
Paul Polman thought it was just going to be an informal catch-up. But it quickly became clear that Alexandre Behring, chairman of Kraft Heinz, had something very specific on his mind when he visited Unilever’s art deco headquarters in London last month. Had Mr Polman, chief executive of Unilever since 2009, ever considered a collaboration with Kraft Heinz, Mr Behring wanted to know. Mr Polman took this […]
Oil company Saudi Aramco [IPO-ARMO.SE] has selected JPMorgan Chase & Co, Morgan Stanley, and HSBC Holdings Plc as lead underwriters for its planned initial public share offering, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter. The listing of Aramco is expected to be the world’s biggest initial public offering and could raise up to $100 billion. The IPO is the centerpiece of […]
Whatever route the government chooses for Brexit it will need to cooperate with other countries, especially our EU neighbours, to combat tax avoidance, tax evasion and money laundering. Yet the signs are not very good as the government seems to have chosen non-cooperation. It has snubbed the EU inquiry into the Panama Papers. Last year, a leak of 11.5m documents and 2.6 terabytes of information from the […]
At least 180 Chinese listed companies will be forced to cancel or scale back planned rights offerings worth $97bn in response to regulations that target excessive fundraising used for dubious acquisitions and financial speculation. The rules come as Chinese regulators are increasingly concerned about the trend of “exit the real, enter the fake” — a phrase used to denote companies abandoning real economic activity in favour of […]
By Sumeet Chatterjee and Lawrence White | HONG KONG/LONDON HONG KONG/LONDON HSBC Holdings (HSBA.L) reported a 62 percent slump in annual pre-tax profit that fell way short of analysts’ estimates as the British bank took hefty writedowns from restructuring and pointed to brakes on revenue growth. HSBC shares slid more than 6 percent after the company reported revenues fell by a fifth from 2015, underscoring the challenge […]
Success for banks selling large blocks of stock in the European market this year points to a supportive environment for new listings in the months ahead, bankers say. There have been 70 such accelerated offerings so far this year according to Dealogic, worth €11.3bn, more than double the €5.5bn sold in the same period a year ago when anxiety about the state of China’s economy prompted much […]
The UAE awarded 4.5 billion dirhams ($1.2 billion) in military procurement deals on Sunday, part of a total of 20 billion dirhams worth of purchases it expects to make at an arms fair this week, a spokesman for the expo said. The deals awarded to local and international companies on Sunday included a 2 billion dirham award to the UAE’s NIMR Automotive, part of Tawazun Holdings, for […]
Since Ancient times, Visual Capitalist’s Jeff Desjardins explains, gold has served a very unique function in society. Gold is extremely rare, impossible to create out of “thin air”, easily identifiable, malleable, and it does not tarnish. By nature of these properties, gold has been highly valued throughout history for every tiny ounce of weight. That’s why it’s been used by people for centuries as a monetary metal, […]
China ended a six-month streak disposing of its US Treasury holdings in December, adding to its position for the first time since last May as the country’s central bank seeks to manage capital flight. The country, which ceded its status as the world’s largest owner of haven Treasuries in October to Japan, added $9.1bn of US sovereign debt to its reserves in the final month of 2016, […]
By Alex Dobuzinskis | LOS ANGELES LOS ANGELES Robert Durst, the real estate scion tied to several slayings explored in HBO’s series “The Jinx,” returned to a Los Angeles courtroom on Wednesday to face a prosecution witness whose identity was being kept secret until taking the stand. Durst, 73, is charged with first-degree murder in the fatal shooting of a writer and longtime confidante of his, Susan […]
Muscat, 15 February 2017 Dentons advised Al Anwar Holdings SAOG on the sale of 20.35% of its shareholding in Falcon Insurance Company SAOC (FIC) for a consideration of OMR 1.876 per share to Arabia Insurance Company S.A.L’s (AIC) affiliates, namely Arabia S.A.L. and Lawrence Investment LLC (Under Formation). The transaction also involved a simultaneous acquisition of the business, assets and liabilities of AIC’s Oman branch by FIC, […]
Joo Kim Tiah, the son of one of Malaysia’s wealthiest tycoons, sat on stage in the summer of 2013 as his new business partner announced their plans for a C$360m luxury condominium-hotel project on Vancouver’s most prestigious downtown thoroughfare. With characteristic salesmanship, Donald Trump bragged that the 63-storey glass tower on West Georgia Street would be “one of the great buildings, not only in Canada and the […]
After two days of questioning, Ramon Fonseca Mora and Jurgen Mossack were detained by prosecutors in Panama on 9 February. The pair have been denied bail as they have been deemed flight risks. They are being held as part of a probe into corruption and bribery allegations involving Brazilian construction group Odebrecht, which has admitted paying $1bn (£800m, €943m) in bribes to obtain contracts in 12 […]
KOTA KINABALU: Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd said today it would extend the fullest cooperation to the police in their investigation into the death of a North Korean man at the KL International Airport 2 on Monday. MAHB chairman Tan Sri Wan Abdul Aziz Wan Abdullah said it included providing the footage of the CCTV cameras at the airport to assist the probe. “They (police) are still investigating […]
Last Updated On 15 February,2017 10:08 am A five member larger bench headed by Justice Asif Saeed Khosa is hearing the case. ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – The Supreme Court (SC) has resumed hearing of Panama case today (Wednesday) after a break of two weeks. A five member larger bench headed by Justice Asif Saeed Khosa is hearing the case. Salman Akram Raja, the counsel of Hussain Nawaz […]
