Islamic debt could become a source of funding for U.K. infrastructure projects from wind turbines to high-speed trains and airports as Britain cements its position as the first sukuk market in a non-Muslim nation. Investors including Bank of London and the Middle East see scope for the U.K. to issue Shariah-compliant bonds with varying maturities after the Debt Management Office attracted bids for more than 10 times […]
Italian airline Alitalia and Etihad Airways are expected to win EU regulatory clearance for their tie-up by the end of the year with minor concessions, a person familiar with the matter said on Tuesday. Abu Dhabi-based Etihad clinched a deal last month to buy 49 percent of loss making Alitalia in a 1.76-billion-euro ($2.31 billion) rescue plan, giving it access to Europe’s fourth-largest travel market and 25 […]
Five years after Dubai teetered on the brink of financial disaster, there are signs emerging that the emirate’s initial public offering market is coming back to life as the owner of the world’s largest shopping mall prepares to sell shares to the public next month. Emaar Properties, Dubai’s highest profile real estate group, said on Sunday it plans to list at least 15% of its profitable and […]
Saudi Arabia’s second-largest telecom operator Mobily said Monday it has established a joint venture with Silicon Valley-based Plug and Play Tech Center to make investments in seed-stage startups in the Middle East. Mobily The partnership, the second of its kind in the region, will also help bring international startups to the region and comes just a few days after Mobily announced it has a launched a venture […]
Hong Kong’s government will hold investor meetings next week for its maiden Islamic bond issue, a spokeswoman for the Hong Kong Monetary Authority said on Thursday. A meeting will be held in Hong Kong on Monday before one in Singapore on Tuesday, Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday and meetings in Dubai, Doha, Abu Dhabi and London on Thursday. The AAA-rated government earlier mandated HSBC, Standard Chartered, CIMB Group […]
UAE. Dubai World, the state-owned company at the center of the emirate’s 2009 financial crisis, reached a deal with its main creditors to extend the repayment of $10.3 billion of debt, two people with knowledge of the matter said. The group, which owns the world’s third-largest ports operator, agreed with its creditor committee to repay in 2022, four years later than previously agreed on, the people said, […]
First-time sellers of bonds that adhere to Islam’s ban on interest are poised to revive an industry suffering its worst quarter in more than four years. Luxembourg and Hong Kong aim to market debut offerings of sukuk next month, while Kenya, South Africa, Bangladesh and Tatarstan have announced plans for maiden issues. Islamic bond sales have fallen 82 percent to $2.6 billion this quarter compared with the […]
SAUDI ARABIA. Saudi Arabia set out draft proposals on foreign-shareholder limits as one of the world’s most restricted stock markets prepares to open its doors for the first time to investors outside the region. The Capital Market Authority may cap foreign ownership of a single stock to 49 percent, it said in plans posted on the Riyadh-based regulator’s website today. It may also set a 5 percent […]
By Adam Hamilton: Gold has slid during this past week on mounting fears of interest-rate hikes. Between the latest FOMC meeting’s minutes and the Fed’s annual Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium, American futures speculators’ rising-rate phobias have been whipped into a fever pitch. They worry gold will be crushed when the Fed eventually starts normalizing rates. But history shatters this fallacy that rising rates are gold’s nemesis. […]
Saudi Arabia set out draft proposals on foreign-shareholder limits as one of the world’s most restricted stock markets prepares to open its doors for the first time to investors outside the region. The Capital Market Authority may cap foreign ownership of a single stock to 49 percent, it said in plans posted on the Riyadh-based regulator’s website today. It may also set a 5 percent limit for […]
(Reuters) – Swiss authorities have warned that a plan by Etihad Airways to buy a third of Switzerland’s Darwin Airline does not meet legal requirements to be approved, as foreign stakes in European airlines come under increasing scrutiny. Switzerland’s Federal Office of Civil Aviation (FOCA) said that Darwin, rebranded as Etihad Regional, has until Sept. 30 to make changes to the agreement, which would then undergo a […]
A year after a $920 million payment default at a spot commodities bourse cut trading from gold to soybeans futures, jolting India’s biggest brokerages, investors are returning as newer regulations buoy confidence. The volume of commodities traded on the Multi Commodity Exchange Ltd. (MCX), India’s biggest commodity bourse, has rebounded from a five-year low after the regulator tightened warehousing and shareholding norms in response to the payment […]
Local lenders in Saudi Arabia are dominating the market, prompting overseas banks to surrender their licenses as they struggle to compete, the chief executive officer of Standard Chartered (STAN) Plc in the country said. “International banks have found this market more challenging to find their edge and differentiate themselves enough to build a viable business,” Boutros Klink, chief executive officer of Standard Chartered Capital Saudi Arabia, said […]
Investment Corporation of Dubai, the emirate state-owned holding company, is seeking to refinance an $880 million loan taken out by resort hotel Atlantis, The Palm, according to four people with knowledge of the matter. The company hired HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBA), Standard Chartered Plc (STAN), and Emirates NBD PJSC on the deal, three of the people said, asking not to be identified as the talks aren’t public. […]
(Reuters) – Shake Shack, the fast-food restaurant chain famous for its hamburgers and milkshakes, is preparing to go public, seeking to tap stock market demand for popular casual dining companies, according to people familiar with the matter. After developing a cult following for its ‘Shackburgers’, ‘flat-top’ hot dogs and eponymous shakes, the company is now preparing to serve up its own shares to the public through an […]
Dubai’s two biggest builders are turning to bank borrowing to help fund projects as a rise in late payments from their customers takes the shine off a booming construction market. Arabtec Holding PJSC, the contractor that helped push Dubai stocks into a bear market in June, said money owed by clients rose to 8.8 billion dirhams ($2.4 billion) through the second quarter from 7.2 billion dirhams at […]
Etihad Airways PJSC signed a 1.76 billion-euro ($2.4 billion) deal to purchase 49 percent of Alitalia SpA, giving the Gulf company access to one of Europe’s biggest travel markets and providing a lifeline to Italy’s unprofitable former flag-carrier. Etihad will invest 560 million euros in Alitalia, while existing core investors have approved a 300 million-euro capital increase and Italian financial institutions will supply the same amount in […]
MUMBAI: The Reserve Bank has relaxed norms for refinancing of infrastructure loans which banks want to be tagged as standard assets. From April 2015, the moment a loan is restructured, banks will have to classify them as bad loan. RBI had made an exception to the rule by allowing banks to classify infrastructure loans as standard assets if half of the outstanding loans are refinanced by a new set of lenders in the form of take-out financing. On Thursday, the central bank relaxed this norm by allowing standard tag if 25 per cent of the outstanding is met through take-out financing. Also, an infrastructure loan that is refinanced can be tagged as standard asset provided promoters are willing to invest more equity in the project. But the standard tag will be a
Americans continue to renounce passports to escape tough tax scrutiny although the number of Americans renouncing U.S. citizenship declined 13 percent in the final half year before rules that make it harder to hide assets from tax authorities came into force. People giving up their nationality at U.S. embassies fell to 1,577 in the six months through June, from 1,809 in the year-earlier period, according to Federal […]
Mumbai’s towering billboards, which hawk everything from the latest Bollywood movies to soda, block out more than some sunlight. They’re also a physical hurdle preventing Air India Ltd. from reaching its potential on what should be one of its most lucrative routes. The height of billboards near India’s financial hub means the Boeing 777-300ER jets the carrier uses for non-stop flights to Newark, New Jersey, near New […]
New Delhi: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday said the government was open to accommodating minor modifications to the Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2008, so that it could be passed in the current session of Parliament. He also said calling a joint session of Parliament was a real option if the Bill was defeated in one of the Houses. After an all-party meeting failed to break the deadlock on the issue between the government and Opposition, Jaitley on Monday reached out to the Congress. But the Congress continued to insist the Bill be sent to a select committee of Parliament, as it now was much changed from the one the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government had tabled in the Rajya Sabha. The party added it would be willing to support the legisl
Dubai Investments (DIC), whose profit jumped 240 percent in the second quarter after it sold assets, says it may be on the cusp of its first ever investment-grade rating as it bolsters cash holdings. The company expects the credit rating to be increased by year-end to at least BBB, two steps above junk, according to Chief Executive Officer Khalid bin Kalban. Its Dubai Investments Park Development Co. […]
NEW DELHI: A visiting US team has told Indian negotiators it would link pacts on the power sector to the agreement the two countries draw on climate change and one would not happen without the other.
This message was conveyed by the US team to India in a meeting held with the power ministry on Wednesday. Power Minister Piyush Goyal and other ministry officials attended the meeting.
The US team, headed by Todd Stern, the US special envoy on climate change, also called on Environment, Forests and Climate Change Minister Prakash Javadekar in its bid to stitch an agreement on various climate change issues.
Sources said the meeting with the environment ministry focused on areas where the two countries
The U.S. sanctioned three Russian banks and a state-owned shipbuilder that serves Russia’s navy and oil and gas industry, joining with the European Union in escalating the penalties for Russia over its actions in Ukraine. “Russia is once again isolating itself from the international community, setting back decades of progress,” President Barack Obama said at the White House. “We can’t, in the end, make President Putin see […]
