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 […]
A broker monitors stock prices on a screen at the Saudi Investment Bank in Riyadh. Saudi Arabia plans to open its stock market, the Arab world’s biggest, to direct investment by foreign financial institutions in the first half of next year. Reuters The Wall Street Journal lists the top 10 companies by market value that might interest foreign investors once the market is opened up for direct […]
DUBAI—Saudi Arabia’s regulator on Thursday issued a set of draft rules for foreigners ahead of the long-awaited opening of its $580 billion stock market to international investors next year. The Capital Markets Authority said a qualified foreign investor must be a bank, brokerage, fund manager or insurance company with at least $5 billion in assets under management, a requirement aimed at attracting more stable and experienced institutional […]
By Chris Katje: Under Armour (NYSE:UA) has been in the news a lot during the month of August. The sports apparel retailer launched a large global campaign aimed at women and also has its eyes set on its largest marketing deal ever. A targeted approach at women and the possible signing of NBA superstar Kevin Durant will have a huge impact on short and long term growth […]
By Lowell Herr: As an experiment I set out to test the SHY cutoff model with a group of Dividend Aristocrat stocks. The SHY model is explained in detail in this Seeking Alpha article. In the software I used for this experiment I had spots for nine stocks plus SHY. To fill those nine openings I pulled down a list of Dividend Aristocrat securities and selected the […]
By Sabra Capital Partners: Sabra Capital Partners, LLC holds a sizeable position in TOP Ships (NASDAQ: TOPS) and believes the shares will appreciate substantially over the next 12-15 months. TOPS announced its intention to reconstitute its fleet in April 2014 by conducting a secondary offering for $30mm. However, given the lack of visibility in the marketplace and the overhang from a drawn out and poor marketing process, […]
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 […]
Switzerland’s Bank Sarasin mis-sold $200 million of investment products to Kuwait’s prominent Khorafi family, a court at Dubai’s financial centre found on Thursday in a ruling that could set a precedent for similar disputes in the region. The Dubai International Financial Centre’s (DIFC) Court of First Instance ordered Sarasin to pay compensation in what may be one of the biggest awards in the 10-year history of the […]
(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 […]
Topaz website For proof that a rising tide doesn’t lift all boats look no further than Dubai’s Topaz Energy and Marine. In the dark days following the global recession it scrapped a planned $500 million London IPO in 2011 that valued the company between $1.6 billion and $1.9 billion. Since then regional economies and capital markets have recovered strongly. Fast forward to Wednesday and Standard Chartered Private […]
Brokerages in the United Arab Emirates, where the market regulator last month vowed it may create new rules to control so-called margin trading, are increasingly offering Shariah-compliant versions of the service. The practice contributed to stock market volatility in the country this year that sent Dubai’s benchmark index from a bull market into a bear and back again in less than a month. The U.A.E. said it […]
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 […]
Kuwait’s Americana owns the franchise for popular fast-food chains such as TGI Friday’s, KFC (pictured above) and Pizza Hut in the Middle East and North Africa region. Bloomberg Kuwait’s Americana is in demand. Several investors, both regional and international, are apparently interested in acquiring a stake in the company that owns the franchise for popular fast-food chains such as TGI Friday’s Inc, KFC and Pizza Hut in […]
Kuwait Food Co (Americana) said on Monday that it had no knowledge of any talks with Saudi Arabia’s Savola Group on a possible acquisition of Americana. “The board and executive administration deny knowledge of any negotiations with Savola regarding an acquisition of Americana,” the Kuwaiti company said in a statement to its stock exchange. A recent meeting between the two companies was intended only to discuss the […]
Seventy-year-old Saudi Arabian stock speculator Mohamed al-Otaibi says he lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in the crash of 2006, but he’s back trading again as the Arab world’s biggest bourse prepares to open to direct foreign investment. The activities of Otaibi and many thousands like him mean there will be a clash of investment cultures when international institutions enter the $580 billion Saudi market early next […]
(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 […]
Two weeks, three continents, and 100 meetings. That — and founder Jack Ma celebrating his 50th birthday on the road — is what it will take for Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. to pull off the largest initial public offering in U.S. history. The Chinese e-commerce company is weighing a plan to start marketing the share sale to investors on Sept. 3, with management traveling across Asia, Europe […]
Shares of Abu Dhabi National Energy Co. (TAQA), which took an impairment of $858 million in North America last year, climbed the most in three weeks after it returned to profit in the second-quarter and said it plans to sell assets. The state-controlled utility, also known as Taqa, reported a second-quarter attributable profit of 239 million dirhams ($65 million), rebounding from a loss of 172 million a […]
Sanctions on Russia over the crisis with Ukraine are leading banks to call for the development of Islamic finance as they seek alternatives to European and U.S. pools of funding. The expansion of the Shariah-compliant industry would let the country attract fresh capital from the Middle East and Asia, the Association of Russian Banks said this week in response to an inquiry from the state bank. The […]
Major Saudi food producer Savola Group said on Wednesday it had begun preliminary talks on a potential acquisition of Kuwait Food Co (Americana) , one of the Middle East’s largest food companies. Savola has attended an investor roadshow held by Americana’s management, but talks have not yet reached a stage that would require disclosure, the company said in a bourse filing. Reuters reported in April that the […]
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 […]
London-based Gatehouse Bank is developing new business lines and widening its investor base as the Islamic wholesale lender looks to build a more stable revenue stream, its chief executive said. Gatehouse, one of Britain’s six full-fledged Islamic banks, is joining several of its peers in broadening its scope, after the country’s Islamic finance sector got a boost from the government’s first issue of an Islamic bond in […]
By Kyler Hasson: CSX Corporation (NYSE:CSX) has been a strong performer since late 2012, with shares going from about $19 to $29, while earnings have remained about flat. Even with these relatively poor business results and the large run-up in the share price, I believe that shares offer substantial value around $29 and should more than double by the end of 2018. While most investors value railroads […]
As players stepped on the pitch of King Fahad International Stadium in Riyadh to kick off the new Saudi football season, the sound of money came louder than the cheers of sports fans. A few minutes before the game started on Thursday, Middle East Broadcasting Center Group inked a deal with the Saudi Arabian Football Federation worth 3.6 billion riyals ($960 million) over 10 years to buy […]
