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 […]
By Bret Jensen: There was a solid article in this week’s Barron’s, an industry standard weekly magazine. Barron’s interviewed Richard Pzena who is the CEO of Pzena Investment Management (NYSE:PZN); a firm that manages billions of dollars thorough a variety of entities. Mr. Pzena made the long term case for owning some of the biggest banks. He believes three of the big drivers of earnings should improve […]
By Wall Street Breakfast: Outstanding Performance Article Rewards We’re excited to announce our latest two Outstanding Performance award winners. Each author receives $2,500. Read more about our Outstanding Performance award winners here. Winner #1: Long idea on TPL (Texas Pacific Land) by Investing 501, published May 30, 2013. Return to date: +148% Winner #2: Short idea on IRG (Ignite Restaurant Group) by Volte-Face Investments, published May 12, […]
NEW DELHI: Diesel price deregulation looks imminent after the difference between retail sale price and its actual cost dropped to a historic low of just 8 paisa. This is the first time in over a decade that retail pump prices are almost in line with imported cost of the nation’s most consumed fuel. Under-recovery or the gap between retail selling price and the cost of import […]
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 […]
|By TAP Staff|The global Sukuk industry is expected to be one of the fastest growing segments of the Islamic finance industry with huge growth potential in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region, according to a report by the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry. This is particularly true of Dubai where Sukuks are expected to play an important role over the next decade in securing funds for […]
Middle East funds are bullish on Saudi Arabia’s stock market despite concern it is getting richly valued, while they think the United Arab Emirates has bottomed out after a volatile few months, a Reuters survey showed. The Saudi stock market index has jumped 13 percent since authorities announced in late July that they would open the market to direct investment by foreign institutions in the first half […]
Emaar Properties will launch its highly anticipated initial public offer of at least 15 percent of its shopping malls and retailing unit on Dubai’s main stock market in September, and plans to list the shares in October. The offer would be one of the largest equity sales in the Middle East since 2008, underlining Dubai’s recovery from a credit crisis that forced many state-linked developers to stall […]
Barack Obama got a warm reception in Rhode Island last week, yet his lack of strategy has dismayed many others Photo: AP Just in case you thought that the Leader of the Free World was secretly harbouring a calculated, well-developed plan for bringing Isil under control and putting Russia’s imperial leader back in his box, Barack Obama banged that idea firmly on the head last week. He gave […]
The Republic of South Africa will begin marketing its debut sukuk from September 8. The roadshow will begin in London, before heading to Dubai and Abu Dhabi on September 9, Riyadh on September 10, and Qatar the following day. The roadshow will wrap up on September 12, though the destination is still being decided, according to a lead. A 144A/Reg S dollar sukuk transaction may follow. BNP […]
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 […]
By Regarded Solutions: While Brain Moynihan has done a good job of projecting Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) as a small, hometown, people friendly bank, as opposed to the “too big to fail” ominous mortgage lending fiasco it had been, the best move he has made was to settle the issue with the Department of Justice. The article noted made these two distinct achievements to support its opinion: […]
KUWAIT. A recent report issued by KFH Research, a subsidery for KFH Group, sees continued positive outlook for the Kuwaiti construction industry, on the back of strong domestic demand in the Kuwaiti economy and a pick-up in government capital spending. Overview and Outlook “While we remain fundamentally cautious about the country’s medium-term investment outlook, we note that higher growth in bank lending over the last few months […]
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, […]
“We have to be honest, we weren’t able to finish it the way we wanted,” said Kassem Eid, a Syrian rebel who has joined the opposition in exile. By ANNE BARNARD August 29, 2014 BEIRUT, Lebanon — As he rode onto the base of the Fourth Division, the formidable Syrian Army unit that had been starving and bombarding his town near Damascus for months, Kassem Eid prepared for a […]
By Wall Street Breakfast: EconomyEuro zone inflation continued to fall in August, with consumer prices rising just 0.3% Y/Y, well below the ECB’s target of just below 2%. The new figures released by Eurostat boost expectations that the central bank will announce further stimulus measures, and will likely result in lively discussion at the ECB’s Sept. 4 policy meeting next week. The U.S. and EU are considering […]
By Bret Jensen: I have made quite a bit of money over the past 12-18 months trading in and out of high yielding upstream energy partnership Linn Energy (NASDAQ:LINE). This was especially true after a couple of negative articles in Barron’s last year alleging “accounting irregularities” knocked the stock down to the low $20s. This held up a pending merger with Berry Petroleum that was eventually blessed […]
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 […]
Blackstone Group is close to its first investment in the Middle East as the private-equity firm nears a deal to acquire a minority stake in Dubai’s GEMS Education, three people with knowledge of the matter said. Blackstone, based in New York, has teamed up with Fajr Capital Ltd. to invest in the world’s biggest privately held schools operator GEMS through its Blackstone Tactical Opportunities unit, the people […]
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is yet to finish his first 100 days in office, but India Inc CEOs are convinced an economic revival is around the corner. A huge majority of 50 CEOs ET polled in the run-up to this special edition are preparing to make fresh investments and are also stepping up hiring, all in anticipation of 6-8% GDP growth most feel is possible over […]
West Texas Intermediate traded near the lowest closing price in seven months after speculators cut bullish bets and as supply rises in the U.S., the world’s biggest consumer. Brent was steady in London. Futures were little changed in New York after falling 0.3 percent yesterday. Crude inventories probably shrank by 1.8 million barrels to 360.7 million last week, a Bloomberg survey shows before an Energy Information Administration […]
Christie’s International Real Estate, the property unit of the London headquartered art auction house, is set to launch in Dubai at the company’s next auction in the emirate in October. The expansion could see Christie’s property wing open three to four offices in the region in total, revealed Joachim Wrang-Widén, SVP and regional director for Europe, Middle East, Russia, India and Africa at a press briefing in […]
The Floating Cinema drops anchor on the Grand Union Canal at King’s Cross, London Photo: HYDAR DEWACHI ‘It’s really captured people’s imagination,” enthuse producer Anna Ramsay and curator Laura Harford as they sit on the deck of the Floating Cinema, their 60ft wide-beam canal boat fitted out as a mini-Odeon. “I think it’s because it’s something so unusual, not at all what they expect to see on a […]
A revival of international bond issues from the Gulf is set to draw heavy demand from local and foreign investors, despite the latest geopolitical upheavals in the Middle East and the approach of higher U.S. interest rates. Gulf bond issuance has dried up since early July, because of a traditional summer lull in local investor activity as well as global market instability due to the crisis in […]
