The article Deadly explosions hit Brussels airport appeared first on Arabian Post.

In the world’s biggest country, railways are still a route to riches. With nearly 1 billion passengers a year and $42 billion in annual sales, the state company Russian Railways is a giant commercial opportunity.

At its head is Vladimir Yakunin, an old friend and long-standing ally of President Vladimir Putin. He oversees a company that strikes international deals, issues bonds to major investors and plans hugely expensive new high-speed lines. By many measures, Russian Railways is a standard corporate colossus.

But a Reuters investigation has uncovered another side to the state-owned company: Under Yakunin, it has paid billions of dollars to private contractors that disguise their ultimate owners and have little or no presence at their registered headquarters.

A Reuters study of tenders held by Russian Railways also identified contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars granted to companies that ostensibly bid as rivals but appear to be closely related.

In 43 tender competitions worth $340 million from 2010 to 2013, for instance, the same two companies were the only bidders each time. Those two firms, it turns out, were set up on the same day, by the same person acting on behalf of undisclosed owners. The firms opened accounts at the same bank on the same day, and declared an identical number of employees two years in a row. On one occasion, they filed bids for a Russian Railways tender within a minute of each other. And last October, after Reuters first inquired about the nature of the companies, both registered websites on the same day.

Russian investigator Sergei Lesnichiy said Reuters findings appeared to show an attempt to manipulate tenders for state contracts, potentially inflating costs to the detriment of Russian Railways. Lesnichiy, director of the Centre for Financial Investigations, an expert body set up by the Russian state, said such effects, if verified and if insiders at Russian Railways benefited, could amount to fraud under Russian law. But he also said that under Russian law it is not an offence for related companies to bid in state tenders.

A further Reuters analysis of banking transactions between 2007 and 2009 involving one large private contractor to Russian Railways showed patterns of activity that U.S. and Russian financial investigators said were typical warning signs of suspicious banking activity.

The analysis suggests that millions of dollars originating from Russian Railways ended up with companies that had nothing to do with railway work. Some of these companies have been judged by Russian authorities to be bogus companies with no genuine operations.

These transactions passed through a small bank part-owned from 2007 to 2009 by a businessman called Andrei Krapivin. Yakunin, the head of Russian Railways, once described Krapivin as an “old acquaintance” and an “unpaid adviser who understands banking well,” according to the Russian newspaper Vedomosti.

A spokesman for Russian Railways said Krapivin “is not an adviser” to Yakunin, but did not comment on whether he had been in the past.

This investigation is part of a Reuters series examining how Russia does business in the Putin era. Even as the Russian president has denounced corruption, some members of the elite have used secretive companies, straw owners and other means to gain business worth hundreds of millions of dollars from some of his signature undertakings. Earlier stories examined how two of Putin’s associates profited from an ambitious state healthcare project.

This article, which is based in part on a confidential database of Russian bank records, focuses on one of the country’s largest businesses in state hands: the railways. The money at stake is huge: In 2012 Russian Railways handed contracts worth $22.5 billion to private contractors – more than the $19.7 billion it paid its staff.

In March, after Russia annexed Crimea, Yakunin was one of the senior Russian officials and members of Putin’s inner circle sanctioned by the United States. The U.S. Treasury described him as a “close confidant of Putin” who “regularly consults with Putin on issues regarding the Russian Railways company.”

He has known Putin since they were both in St. Petersburg in the 1990s. Putin appointed him as head of Russian Railways in 2005, early in Putin’s second term as president.

Yakunin did not respond to Reuters inquiries regarding this story, but his spokesman at Russian Railways, which is also known by the abbreviation OAO RZhD, replied to written questions.

“The procurement activity of OAO RZhD is undertaken in strict accordance with the relevant laws,” Alexander Pirkov wrote. Tenders were organised in “the most transparent way” and procurement activity “has been repeatedly examined by the competent state organs, including the Audit Chamber of the Russian Federation,” he said.

Russian Railways said the companies identified by Reuters were all legitimate, and that its contracts were awarded fairly and fulfilled properly.

Krapivin did not respond to Reuters requests for comment. Instead, his son called. Alexei Krapivin said his father had no involvement in the railway contractors and transactions examined in this report. He said any suggestion to the contrary was “bullshit.” He declined to comment in detail.-Reuters

The article Putin’s comrade capitalism gets exposed appeared first on Arabian Post.

The Real Estate Regulatory Agency (Rera), the legal arm of the Dubai Land Department (DLD), is encouraging people to register complaints against real estate agencies making cold calls.

Complaints have been received against three companies engaged in making unsolicited calls to potential clients and property owners.

“A new regulatory article has been introduced by us that covers telemarketing.

“We encourage anyone who has a complaint in this regard to contact us and request to speak with the Inspection Department,” Yousif Al Hashimi, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Rera, told Emirates 24|7.

In August 2013, Rera issued a circular to all real estate offices on the issue of property brokers making unsolicited calls.

It reminded that real estate brokers were not allowed to make either telemarketing phone calls or send telemarketing SMS messages to property owners who have not registered their properties for sale or rent in the real estate offices using the official templates.

Asked if any broker had been fined for violation, Al Hashimi revealed: “We have received three complaints so far and are taking the necessary action related to these cases.”

A broker, violating the rule, is first given a warning letter and those repeating the offence face a fine of Dh50,000.

Ravi Kumar, who owns an apartment in Dubai Marina, says: “A year back, I was constantly getting calls, asking if I wanted to buy an apartment.

“Now, brokers call me, asking if I am planning to sell my apartment. I haven’t registered with any of these companies for any service… I am not sure how they got my details.”

When told people can register their grievance with Rera, Kumar welcomed the news, saying, “This is a very good move.

“Brokers shouldn’t bother us unless we register with them. I will soon be calling Rera to register my complaint.”

Rera says that contacting property owners directly in order to offer sales and marketing services is not only a breach of the guidelines, it goes against the whole ethos of the profession.

But real estate brokers are allowed to place advertisements promoting their own services and can promote projects that have been pre-approved with the developer, owner or landlord.

“When advertising their services on-line, every real estate office is required to include their unique registration number, which must be placed on all communication documents,” Rera states.

The article RERA cracks down on unsolicited sales pitches over phone appeared first on Arabian Post.

The article The new Merc S-class Coupe appeared first on Arabian Post.

Gold rose 0.5 percent to a three-month high on Thursday, targeting a break above $1,300 after disappointing U.S. retail sales data weighed on the dollar and increased bullion’s appeal as a currency hedge.

The dollar index tumbled 0.4 percent after U.S. retail sales fell unexpectedly in January and the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits rose last week, in the latest signs of slowing economic growth. The yellow metal came within less than $1 of breaking above the $1,300 an ounce mark, a level last seen in early November.

Turnover, however, was light. Bullion has been boosted by a combination of better investment demand in gold exchange-traded funds and safe-haven demand because of recent pullback in equities and tumbling assets in emerging markets. “In the near-term, a convincing close above the psychological $1,300 an ounce level may lend additional support for bullion, while a failure to break this threshold may be seen as inviting for investor profit-taking,” said James Steel, chief precious metals analyst at HSBC.

Earlier in the session, spot gold rose to $1,299.50 an ounce, its highest since Nov. 8 earlier. It was last up 0.5 percent at $1,296.69 an ounce by 11:25 a.m. EST (1625 GMT). U.S. COMEX gold futures for February delivery climbed $2.30 to $1,297.20 an ounce. Trading volume was on track to finish below its 30-day average, preliminary Reuters data showed.

On technical charts, gold could face strong resistance at the $1,300 level and at the 200-day moving average of $1,304, traders said. Quantitative Commodity Research owner Peter Fertig said the $1,300 psychological barrier could be breached as long as some uncertainty remains in the equity markets and the dollar remains under pressure. Recent U.S. data, including two straight months of weak jobs growth, have raised questions over whether the world’s biggest economy can sustain growth and made some investors hope the Fed would take a slower approach to tapering its bond purchases.

Investors have been cautiously moving back into the precious metal as seen in flows into SPDR Gold Trust, the world’s largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund. Holdings in the ETF rose 1.80 tonnes to 798.85 tonnes on Tuesday. The fund, which lost around 500 tonnes in 2013, has not recorded any outflows in three weeks.

The article Gold hits 3-month high appeared first on Arabian Post.

A U.S. border checkpoint located a day’s flight from New York in the Arabian desert promises to become an oasis for weary travelers heading for the States.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection opened an Abu Dhabi base on Jan. 24, the first in the Middle East and the second outside the Americas after Ireland. Another post is planned in Dubai within a year as part of a push to combat terror threats before would-be perpetrators even board a plane that will also fast-track travelers through a routinely arduous entry process.

The U.S. drive to tighten immigration security with overseas posts stands to deliver an advantage to Emirates and other fast-growing Persian Gulf carriers because the overseas checks can shave hours from border crossings at major U.S. gateways, the typically vexing finale to a long-distance trip. Passengers in Abu Dhabi can instead make use of the dead time between flights to complete the process, enhancing the allure of the luxurious Gulf airports as global travel hubs.

“The flight is long and you get exhausted, and then you wait there for hours,” said Sahar Riaz, 17, a student who travels from Dubai to the U.S. as many as three times a year to visit her sister in New York. “It’s much more convenient to finish everything from here because you’re not as tired as you would be when you arrive in the U.S.”

Travelers can stand in line for 4 1/2 hours at John F. Kennedy International Airport, the U.S. Travel Association said Sept. 18.

By contrast, transferring to a New York-bound plane in Dublin can take as little as 1 hour 15 minutes. Ireland has enjoyed special pre-clearance rights for decades as a legacy of the early years of intercontinental travel, when U.S.-Europe flights refueled there.

The U.S. Air Line Pilots Association says convenience shouldn’t be the chief consideration after security, and that the United Arab Emirates agreement puts American jobs at risk. Terms of the accord mean it will bear 85 percent of the cost of facilities while handing full legal authority to the U.S.,

“The primary purpose of customs pre-clearance should be to facilitate travel on U.S. airlines,” ALPA says in a position paper on its website. “It should not be to benefit foreign airlines financially nor facilitate unfair advantages.”

The United Arab Emirates is the first Middle Eastern country to seek pre-clearance for America-bound passengers as part of a decade-long U.S. push to promote the policy beyond a handful of legacy agreements dating to the 1970s and beyond.

Previous accords have been limited to nine terminals in Canada and a handful in the Caribbean, Bahamas and Bermuda, plus Dublin and Shannon in Ireland.

Those airports are used by several U.S. airlines, together with local operators that pose little competitive threat — unlike Emirates and Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways PJSC, which are building their Gulf bases into intercontinental transfer hubs served by vast fleets of the newest wide-body jets.

Whereas Etihad has direct flights to New York, Washington and Chicago and will add Los Angeles from June, with onward links to 40 cities via New York-based JetBlue Airways Corp., not a single U.S. carrier serves Abu Dhabi.

Delta Air Lines (DAL) Inc. Chief Executive Officer Richard Anderson told analysts in July that in seeking to address the issue of U.S. border delays, “the answer shouldn’t be to outsource JFK to Abu Dhabi.”

As of Feb. 1, future pre-clearance applications must come from nations where U.S. carriers offer flights following a law passed by Congress, said Kevin McAleenan, acting deputy commissioner at U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Even with that directive, there will still likely remain an imbalance where agreements involve a major foreign hub.

While Delta and United Continental Holdings Inc. fly to Dubai and will benefit from pre-clearance, their services to Atlanta and Washington respectively are dwarfed by an Emirates network with direct connections to New York, Boston, Washington, Dallas, Houston, Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

McAleenan estimates his agency will process 400,000 passengers from Abu Dhabi this year, a 60 percent jump.

“We think it’s smart and efficient,” he said. “We’re going to have fewer people in lines, shorter lines and more officers to process them.” The extension of the system to Dubai will have the same impact, “but on a greater scale,” he said.

Two senior Democrats on the House Homeland Security Committee — Representative Bennie Thompson of Mississippi and Cedric Richmond of Louisiana — questioned the Transportation Security Administration’s wisdom in allowing people pre-cleared in Abu Dhabi to avoid checks on connecting flights “during a time of heightened threats to the aviation sector.”

Allowing the UAE to fund the Abu Dhabi facility also encourages the border agency to rely on foreign states for cash, creating a “dangerous precedent,” according to the Airlines for America trade group. The agency should focus on shortening wait times in the U.S. before opening sites overseas, Nicholas Calio, its CEO, said Jan. 14.

In Ireland, Aer Lingus Group is leveraging the allure of rapid border transit at its home hubs to offer 24 percent more long-haul seats this year. The carrier began year-round flights to Boston from Shannon Feb. 6 and adds San Francisco in April, with all U.S. services benefiting from pre-clearance.

Facilities in Dublin were upgraded in 2011, helping to drive the airport’s trans-Atlantic passenger count to a record 1.9 million last year. The transfer total surged 40 percent to almost 600,000.

“Pre-clearance gives us a huge advantage because now we can go out with a really strong message,” Aer Lingus Network Revenue Director Neal O’Rourke said in an interview.

Services provided by American Airlines, US Airways, Delta and United also pre-clear in Ireland, as do British Airways flights to New York from London City airport, where the runway is too short for the Airbus Group A318 planes used to take off with sufficient kerosene, forcing a refueling stop there.

“You land and you’re a domestic passenger, so it’s very easy,” said James Straker, a U.K. citizen who has traveled via Dublin to John F. Kennedy airport. “With heightened security it’s taking longer.”-Bloomberg

The article US border check post to be extended to Dubai appeared first on Arabian Post.

Oman may have to start selling foreign assets or borrow on international markets in coming years if government spending rises during a period of lower oil prices and economic growth, a report in a magazine published by its central bank said.

“The sultanate has to tolerate one of the options in the coming years if there is any prediction of decrease in GDP (gross domestic product) growth rates with an increase in spending,” said the article in Al Markazi, a banking and economic publication.

“The first option is to begin to liquidate assets abroad to support domestic spending. The second would be to start a programme of external borrowing next year at the earliest.”

The author of the article was not named, and a note attached to the magazine said the opinions expressed in it were not necessarily those of the central bank. But an official in the central bank’s media department, contacted by Reuters, said the article was in line with the bank’s thinking.

Oman, which relies on oil and gas for 87 percent of its budget revenue, faces increasing pressure on its finances because of rises in state spending on social welfare and infrastructure investment. The finance minister said last year that the country might resume borrowing in international markets for the first time since 1997.

In October, the International Monetary Fund predicted that Oman would slip into a fiscal deficit of 0.2 percent of GDP in 2015, widening to as much as 7.1 percent in 2018.

That was before the government revealed plans for additional spending on public wages, which could raise the oil price which Oman needs to balance its budget to $112 per barrel from an estimated $105 this year.

Brent crude oil is currently at $108; a Reuters poll last month showed the market thinks the price will ease to $104.90 this year and $100 in 2015.

“(The) break-even price reaching up to $112 will make building financial reserves difficult if not a downright impossible task,” the magazine article said, quoting the finance minister.

It also noted that oil prices could fall substantially if Iran reaches a comprehensive agreement with world powers on its nuclear programme this year, allowing economic sanctions to be lifted and full supplies of its oil to global markets to resume.

“Any decline to about $90 probably because of the return of Iranian supplies to the international market – in case Tehran entered into a definitive agreement with world powers on its nuclear programme – would affect the expectations and the odds set by the sultanate,” the magazine said.

Oman has started to rein in state spending growth, but this may not be enough to avoid budget deficits in future. State spending this year is projected at 13.5 billion rials ($35.1 billion), up just 5 percent from the original plan in the 2013 budget, which envisaged a 29 percent leap from 2012.

The country has a relatively modest store of oil earnings compared to neighbours such as Saudi Arabia. The magazine said the size of one of Oman’s sovereign wealth funds was $8.2 billion, but did not name it or give other details.

Analysts have estimated the country’s two most prominent sovereign wealth funds hold a total of about $16 billion worth of assets. The central bank’s foreign reserves stood at $15.8 billion in December.-Reuters

The article Oman may be forced to sell assets if oil price falls appeared first on Arabian Post.

The $600 million loan which Emirates Central Cooling Systems Corp (Empower) is using to back its acquisition of Palm Utilities is being syndicated to other lenders, three banking sources said on Thursday.

Dubai district cooling firm Empower announced last month that it was buying Palm Utilities from a unit of Dubai World for $500 million, the latest in a series of acquisitions which have seen assets shuffled between companies ultimately owned by Dubai’s government or the emirate’s ruler.

Empower is funding the purchase with a facility that covers the cost as well as providing a further $100 million for future projects, Empower Chief Executive Officer Ahmad Bin Shafar told local newspaper Gulf News on Jan. 26.

The loan, which has a six-year lifespan and was initially provided by four banks, is now being offered to other lenders interested in joining the deal, the sources told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity as the information isn’t public.

Empower confirmed the loan syndication but a spokesperson was unavailable for further comment.

The facility was originally provided by Citigroup, Standard Chartered and local lenders Emirates NBD and Mashreq.-Reuters

Two further lenders – Commercial Bank of Dubai and Saudi Arabia’s Samba Financial Group – signed up to the loan before the selldown in the wider market began last week, two of the sources said.

The margin on the loan, which has an amortising structure meaning both interest and principal are repaid during the life of the facility, is 205 basis points over the London interbank offered rate, one of the sources said.

Acquiring Palm Utilities, which includes Palm District Cooling, will give Empower about 70 percent of the United Arab Emirates’ district cooling market, Empower said when the acquisition was announced.

District cooling is a centralised system for chilling large buildings, such as offices, factories and tower blocks, instead of having a large number of individual air conditioning units.-Reuters

The article Empower starts $600m loan syndication appeared first on Arabian Post.

A massive cyber attack from unknown sources that has been spamming bitcoin exchanges is highlighting some of the dangers people can encounter when they exchange cash for digital currencies like the bitcoin, experts said on Wednesday.

The attack, which is technically known as a distributed denial of service attack, involved thousands of phantom transactions, forcing at least three of the online platforms that store bitcoins and trade them for traditional currencies to halt withdrawals of bitcoins until they can determine which transactions were real.

It showed that bitcoin, which exists solely in cyberspace and operates on a software code written by an unknown programmer or group of programmers, is as vulnerable to such an assault as any other Internet-based business. It exposes the higher risks involved in owning and trading the instrument compared with the dollar and other traditional currencies. Bitcoins slumped in value as a result of the disruptions.

“Bitcoin is still an experimental protocol in its infancy,” said Micky Malka, a venture capitalist who is on the board of Bitcoin’s trade group, the Bitcoin Foundation.

“It will grow and mature over time,” he added. “No one should be investing an amount they cannot afford to lose.”

This week’s attack was not the first, said Andreas Antonopoulos, chief security officer for blockchain.info, a website that tracks bitcoin activity and provides online storage services for bitcoin users.

Antonopoulos is also a member of a group of core bitcoin programmers and is part of an emergency response team of programmers who have been working to fix the flaws in the code governing some bitcoin transactions that the attackers were exploiting. He said that work that should be completed by the middle of next week, echoing an estimate provided by a spokeswoman for the Bitcoin Foundation who said its core developers were all participating in the effort to fix the code.

Bitcoin is a decentralized digital system of value transfers that is not governed by any central bank, company or government. No assets back the bitcoin, whose value has fluctuated widely as its visibility has increased. Last September, a bitcoin was worth around $150. By late December the value was near the $1,000 mark.

Regulators around the world are struggling how to categorize the bitcoin. Some want to call it an asset class, others a commodity. Bitcoin users call it a currency and many advocate for its mass adoption, claiming it can help solve problems created by expensive and time-consuming bank transactions.

Early adopters also liked the anonymity bitcoin has offered, since it can be transferred between users without any exchange of personal identification information. However, moves by various authorities to pursue bitcoin users who they say have laundered money using the currency and attempts to regulate bitcoin exchanges could soon lower the level of anonymity in transactions.

On Tuesday, Slovenia-based Bitstamp became the second major bitcoin exchange to halt customer withdrawals in the past several days, citing “inconsistent results” and blaming a denial-of-service attack.

That was a day after Mt. Gox, based in Tokyo and the best-known digital marketplace operator, said a halt on withdrawals would continue indefinitely. Traders reacted to the halt by sending the bitcoin value to its lowest level in nearly two months.

A Bulgaria-based bitcoin exchange also had to halt withdrawals, Antonopoulos said.

The price of bitcoins, which have gained wider acceptance in recent months, dropped in the wake of the attacks from around $850 late last month. On Wednesday, they were quoted down nearly 2 percent for the day at $656 per coin on the bitcoin tracking website CoinDesk.

“Anyone who plays in this space, you better have a plan for when an attack happens because it’s going to be a when, not an if,” said Brian Krebs, a Washington-based cyber security expert who runs the blog KrebsOnSecurity.com.

The lesson for investors was that the bitcoin wasn’t as liquid as initially advertised, said Jason Scharfman, a financial due diligence expert and managing partner at consulting firm Corgentum.

“These types of attacks, they’re effectively freezing some of the accounts because the exchanges don’t want to pay out to the wrong person,” he said. “If something’s frozen or there’s a question about me being able to redeem my bitcoins, the value of them drops.”

“Does this spook financial investors?” he added. “The answer is yes.”

Scharfman said one way to mitigate the risks of such attacks would be to spread holdings of bitcoins out among several different online storage facilities. That way if one were attacked the other might still have a chance at being safe.

Scharfman said the more regulatory scrutiny that bitcoin exchanges received, the safer they were likely to be.

“Regulation will sort of normalize which exchanges are the most secure. They’ll mandate security measures and smaller exchanges just won’t be able to afford it,” he said.-Reuters

The article Cyber attack adds to online currency risks appeared first on Arabian Post.

India, the world’s biggest sugar producer after Brazil, will introduce a subsidy on raw sweetener exports to boost shipments amid a domestic glut, a government official said.

The cabinet approved a 3,333 rupees ($54) a metric ton subsidy for exports in February and March and will review the amount in April, the official, who asked not to be named because the person isn’t authorized to speak to the media, said in New Delhi yesterday after the cabinet meeting. That’s 67 percent more than the 2,000 rupees previously proposed by the Food Ministry. India will subsidize as much as 4 million tons in the next two years, the official said.

Bajaj Hindusthan Ltd., Balrampur Chini Mills Ltd. and other mills are counting on government support to increase shipments and trim record losses as cane costs climb and prices drop. The subsidy will help spur exports from India and help the country compete with supplies from Thailand, Michael McDougall, a senior vice president at Newedge Group in New York, said by phone yesterday. Refineries including Dubai-based Al Khaleej Sugar Co. will benefit from Indian supplies, he said.

“The incentive will surely help in reducing sugar surplus in India,” said Ravi Gupta, a president of Shree Renuka Sugars Ltd. (SHRS), the nation’s top refiner. “India is quite well positioned to substitute raw imports by refiners with domestically produced raws.”

Raw sugar for May delivery advanced 2.9 percent to 16.19 cents a pound on ICE Futures U.S. in New York. It’s down 1.5 percent this year and fell 16 percent in 2013. White, or refined, sugar for delivery in May traded 2.6 percent higher at $445.30 a ton on NYSE Liffe in London. It’s down 0.6 percent this year and declined 14 percent in 2013.

The subsidy will have a negative impact on world prices and will distort the market, Rangsit Hiangra, director general of Thai Sugar Millers Corp., said yesterday.

The World Trade Organization considers all forms of export subsidies to be illegal and the Indian allowance will distort global trade, Unica, a Sao Paulo-based industry group representing sugar mills, said in a statement last week.

Newedge Group’s McDougal said the subsidy should make Indian exports viable at about 16 cents a pound.

“It has been talked about so many times and I think the impact is already in the market,” McDougall said, estimating there may be about 500,000 tons of shipments in two months.

Bajaj Hindusthan (BJH) and Balrampur Chini were among companies in Uttar Pradesh state that shut mills for two weeks in November, demanding aid to pay state-determined cane prices to growers. Mills owed farmers about 100 billion rupees in cane arrears at the end of January, the Indian Sugar Mills Association said Feb. 3.

Bajaj, the nation’s biggest producer, fell 2.3 percent to 12.75 rupees yesterday. Balrampur Chini, the second-largest, dropped 0.1 percent to 39.95 rupees and Shree Renuka declined 3.2 percent to 19.65 rupees.

“This will give liquidity to the mills and will help them pay a part of the cane arrears,” said Abinash Verma, director general of the association. “The arrears have crossed 100 billion rupees. Since the window to produce raw sugar is very short, we would pray for an early notification of rules and procedure.”

Sugar output in India may total 25 million tons this season, compared with 25.1 million tons a year earlier, while consumption is seen at 23 million tons to 23.5 million tons, according to the association. Stockpiles will surge to 10 million tons by the end of 2013-14 if the nation fails to export any sugar, it estimates.-Bloomberg

The article India approves subsidy for raw sugar exports appeared first on Arabian Post.

 Oven-hot pizza delivered to your home by drone! Sounds like fantasy? Well, this could become a reality in Dubai and elsewhere in the UAE if tests currently under way succeed.

The technology is almost there. The only limiting factor is the cost. Obviously a pizza costing AED55 with a delivery cost of AED550 wouldn’t make sense. But the people behind the idea say the cost will over time come down to realistic levels.

Commercial and civilian use of drones for delivering products and services is growing the world over.

The ongoing Government Summit in Dubai saw the unveiling of two prototypes of the drones that could be used to deliver high value, time sensitive Government documents, identification papers and medicines.

Mohammed Al Gargawi, Minister of Cabinet Affairs, also announced a million-dollar prize money competition for anyone who can invent a drone for this purpose.

Dr Noah Raford, special adviser to the Office of the Prime Minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, who explained the innovative product, said the battery-operated drones could cost as little as Dh4,000 and fly for up to three kilometres at 40kph and carry objects weighing up to 1.5kg.

“I have seen so many of these things in my friends’ and colleagues’ homes. A year ago when I was speaking about drones and flying vehicles, everyone thought I was crazy. Now, everyone has one in their house. There has been an exponential decrease in price and an exponential increase in usability,” he pointed out.

Dr Raford said the UAE would be able to use drones for civilian purposes, unlike in other countries where they had run into problems.

“The issues are not technical but regulatory. We have lot more freedom to design a regulatory system that is safe and responsible and achieves the 21st-century goal to deliver advanced services.”

The article Pizza delivered by drone! appeared first on Arabian Post.

|By Cushla Sherlock|

Rationale: Europe’s recovery is slowly gathering pace and Credit Suisse anticipates an acceleration in earnings growth in 2014. Valuations are more attractive than in the US.
Investment implications: Buy (or overweight) European stocks. Among countries, Credit Suisse currently favors Germany given its operating leverage towards a recovery. For higher-risk investors: Europe-wide small and mid-cap stocks, cyclicals and selected banks on low valuations. For lower-risk investors: Dividend-yielding stocks offer potentially lower risk with higher yields than fixed income markets.

Idea 2: Seeking Equity Alpha

Rationale: Equities are the preferred asset class for 2014. After a good performance in 2013, the market recovery is set for a new phase in which active style, sector, country and stock selection can generate superior returns, noting that within both US and European stock markets, correlations among equities have fallen markedly.
Investment implications: Choose sectors, styles, countries and individual stocks based on prevailing market dynamics; cyclicals and momentum stocks from the IT and capital goods sectors are recommended.

Idea 3: Emerging Markets Reloaded

Rationale: During 2014 Credit Suisse expects that most emerging markets will benefit from a cyclical upswing supported by export opportunities to the developed markets. Emerging market trend growth rates remain above those of developed markets (albeit lower than before) and could further re-accelerate with structural reforms. Deficits still a source of volatility.
Investment implications: Gain exposure to export-led, growth-sensitive countries, such as Taiwan, and also look for those where the potential for successful structural reforms is not yet fully discounted. Compelling valuations can still be found (for example, China) where long term fundamentals – like consumption, urbanization, export potential – remain key investment drivers. Take a position in companies that benefit from emerging market cyclical recovery.

Idea 4: Fixed Income in a World of Rising Yields

Rationale: The need to obtain reasonable fixed income returns at a time when duration is unattractive since yields may rise on an economic recovery and tapering, and credit spreads are low.
Investment implications: Focus on short-duration assets in areas where value still exists, like corporate senior loans (usually held via a fund), bank subordinated debt, bank CoCos, corporate hybrids and distressed debt. Credit spreads on high yield and floating rate debt are near historic lows but limited amounts of such debt from strong issuers can be included in an overall portfolio. Avoid overvalued assets such as bank senior debt.

Idea 5: Forex as the Fed Tapers

Rationale: With tapering, the USD is set to strengthen against some currencies, like the JPY, and trade at the stronger end of the range against others, for example the EUR. In portfolios, a USD long position offers diversification in times of stress.
Investment implications: Buy USD/JPY, spot or forward. Opportunistically sell EUR/USD near the top of the range. Within emerging markets, sell currencies of deficit countries against those of surplus countries and of reformers.

Idea 6: Cash-Rich Companies

Rationale: Corporate cash piles remain near multi-year highs. Rising CEO confidence levels and pressure from shareholders to invest in growth or return cash bodes well for M&A activity.
Investment implications: Moderate risk-appetite investors should favor companies with a strong free cash flow and the ability to buy back shares. Investors with higher risk-appetite should prefer companies that are the potential targets of industry consolidation or which will benefit from asset disposals through restructurings.

Idea 7: China Reform Reaccelerates

Rationale: The Third Plenary Session of China’s Central Committee announced a clear direction for structural reforms, with accelerated product and financial market liberalization which should accelerate economic rebalancing, from exports and investment towards consumption. Concrete measures are expected in the coming months.
Investment implications: Stock selection is key. Gain exposure to global, regional and domestic firms that can benefit from China’s structural reforms with a focus on the private companies, services sectors and winners from economic rebalancing towards consumption. CNY and CNH (Chinese Offshore Yuan) remain our top emerging market currency ideas and are expected to sustain gradual appreciation in the course of exchange-rate reform.

Cushla Sherlock is Editor, Credit Suiss

The article Seven top investment ideas for 2014 appeared first on Arabian Post.

Google Inc., the company that leads Internet search, has gained a new superlative: top dealmaker.

From buying a digital-thermostat developer to selling a mobile-phone business, Google has executed more deals than any company in the world over the past three years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg through January, up from 13th place in the three years prior. Advertising-firm WPP Plc was second, followed by chipmaker Intel Corp.

Since taking over as chief executive officer in 2011, co-founder Larry Page has pushed Google beyond Web advertising. He’s used the company’s cash, which totaled $58.7 billion in the latest quarter, to invest in connected devices, business services and mobile applications. The mergers and acquisitions group, led by Don Harrison, has expanded by at least 50 percent in the past two years, a person with knowledge of the unit said. Meanwhile, Google Ventures has become a big startup spender, and a new group called Google Capital backs later-stage companies.

“It is absolutely starting to feel like a deal machine,” said Maha Ibrahim, a partner at venture firm Canaan Partners in Menlo Park, California, which has co-invested with Google Ventures and Google Capital. “Because they have such a diverse base of interests, you see these acquisitions coming out of left field that have very little to do on the surface with the ad business.”

Including acquisitions, investments and the occasional divestiture, the Mountain View, California-based company has been involved with 127 deals in the past three years, more than double the number from January 2008 to 2011, according to the data. While the total value of Google’s deals rose to $17.6 billion, that still trails companies such as General Electric Co. at $19.9 billion and Blackstone Group LP at $62.3 billion, the data show. That includes investments that came from other companies and excludes some venture deals that go undisclosed.

Intel, which also has a venture unit, led the prior three-year period with 104 deals, and fell to third in the most recent stretch with 121 transactions.

Google, whose cash holdings are larger than the economy of Tunisia, has been writing bigger checks, a shift from a few years ago, when deals were usually tied closely to online traffic or ads, and were rarely more than $1 billion.

Google agreed last month to buy digital-thermostat maker Nest Labs Inc. for $3.2 billion, moving further into hardware. To bolster its experiments in robotics, Google acquired Boston Dynamics Inc. in December, adding to several other purchases in the industry last year, and bought DeepMind Technologies Ltd., a London-based artificial intelligence developer, in January.

“Google is willing to take equity bets and cash bets trying to acquire the next new revenue stream,” said Salman Ullah, who led M&A at Google from 2004 to 2007 and is now a partner at Merus Capital in Palo Alto, California. In the past, “there was a reluctance to do super people-intensive deals and that fell by the wayside. The appetite for non-traditional targets has gone up.”

In 2013, the two biggest private financings of U.S. technology companies, not including takeovers, involved cash from Google. Online questionnaire service SurveyMonkey Inc. raised about $444 million in January 2013, with Google Capital taking part, and two months later Google Ventures led a $361.2 million investment in car-booking app Uber Technologies Inc.

Last year, Google’s corporate development team outflanked Facebook Inc. in acquiring mapping-software provider Waze Inc. for almost $1 billion. Facebook had also been in talks to buy DeepMind when Google swept in, The Information reported.

Harrison, who was Google’s deputy general counsel before taking over the M&A team more than a year ago, said at a Bloomberg conference in June that his group is closing a transaction about every two weeks and has a “pretty active pipeline.” Prior to joining Google’s legal team, Harrison, worked at law firm Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati.

“They’re very good professional acquirers,” said John Malloy, a partner at BlueRun Ventures and investor in Waze. “They know what they’re doing.”

Former M&A chief Ullah worked with Harrison on Google’s $1 billion investment in AOL in 2005. Ullah said that while he was on the verge of falling asleep in the seemingly never-ending meetings, Harrison just kept going.

“He has unlimited stamina,” Ullah said. “No amount of detail is too much for him.”

Google declined to make Harrison available for comment.

The spending spree is also raising concern that Google has an unfair advantage over smaller competitors because of its cozy relationships and inside knowledge of so many industries, said Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington. Google controls two-thirds of the U.S. search market and has more than 1 billion users of its YouTube video service.

“Increasingly the question arises — why isn’t there greater scrutiny of Google’s practices?” Rotenberg said.

Google’s strategy is in contrast to that of Apple Inc., the only Silicon Valley company with more cash on its balance sheet. The iPhone maker has only taken part in 12 deals in the past three years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, and has been sending cash back to shareholders in the form of dividends and buybacks. Google’s shares have climbed 97 percent over the period, while Apple has advanced 48 percent.

Google agreed last month to sell its Motorola handset business, which it bought for $12.4 billion in 2012, to Lenovo Group Ltd. for $2.91 billion. Google said it was better off focusing on its mobile Android software and retaining key patents valued at $5.5 billion at the time. Google also sold off Motorola’s set-top box business for $2.24 billion last year.

While there is concern that Google is extending its reach too far, the co-founders are keeping with their vision of seeking technology that can solve big problems, according to Patrick Mork, a former marketing director at Google Play, which sells applications and content for Android devices.

“These guys have always been a little idealistic about wanting to use technology to change things on a large scale,” said Mork, who is now an entrepreneur in residence at Signia Venture Partners. “It’s by taking these moonshots.”

Google Capital is the newest unit for later-stage investments. It has at least a half-dozen employees, according to current public profiles on LinkedIn Corp. That includes partner Gene Frantz, who joined last year from TPG Capital, where he worked for more than a decade. David Lawee, Google’s former M&A chief, leads the group.

Last year, Google Capital was part of a $125 million investment in LendingClub Corp., an online peer-to-peer loan service in San Francisco. Earlier, it joined private-equity investors in backing SurveyMonkey. Both companies are aiming to serve small businesses, an area of focus for Google as it expands its cloud software offerings.

“Google has been a very good acquirer as they have been good at integrating and benefiting from their deals,” said Dave Goldberg, CEO of Palo Alto-based SurveyMonkey.

With Google Ventures, the company makes bets on startups that may not have a lot of market traction or revenue. The unit started in 2009 and is funded by its parent, which is providing $300 million a year, up from $200 million in 2012. Google Ventures made 75 investments last year and had 10 exits, including three initial public offerings. The group has more than 50 employees, including nine general partners and one managing partner.

“When we founded Google Ventures, we structured the fund to build in an unprecedented level of autonomy,” Bill Maris, managing partner at Google Ventures, wrote in an e-mail. “The idea was never, ‘What can startups do for Google?’ It was always, and remains, ‘What can we do for startups?’”

Tom Moss, co-founder of Nextbit Systems Inc., took an investment from Google Ventures along with Accel Partners, where he’s an entrepreneur-in-residence.

“Google is still very well regarded in the technology community, generally as a company that loves technology and wants to push technology forward,” Moss said.

Google needs to find new markets after sales growth slowed to 19 percent last year from 37 percent in 2012. In addition to the added revenue from acquisitions, investments have the potential to provide insights into emerging markets or promising technologies that Google wouldn’t otherwise see.

“They really are all over the map,” said Ethan Kurzweil, a partner at Bessemer Venture Partners in Menlo Park. “Every strategy you can imagine a company employing, they’re employing in one way or another.”-Bloomberg

The article Google is top dealmaker appeared first on Arabian Post.

 Dubai’s bourse rose further on Tuesday after a choppy session as it tried to break free of the 4,000-point psychological resistance level, while other regional markets were narrowly mixed because of a lack of fresh catalysts.

The Dubai index climbed 1.0 percent to a fresh five-year closing high of 4,065 points after rebounding from an intra-day loss of roughly 1 percent – a sign that buyers remain ready to step in on any weakness in the market.

“Expectations for the earnings we haven’t seen yet are high and given the state of emerging markets, there is some interest in dollar-pegged markets like the UAE (United Arab Emirates) from countries where currencies are under pressure,” said Amer Khan, head of asset management at Shuaa Asset Management.

Mid-cap shares led gains with Dubai-based contractor Drake and Scull rising 3.5 percent after the company said a unit won a 375 million dirham ($102 million) contract from local developer Nakheel. This followed a string of recent contract wins.

Abu Dhabi’s measure slipped 0.5 percent, however, easing off a 66-month high.

In Kuwait, the measure advanced 0.2 percent to extend its 2014 gains to 4.1 percent. Sentiment was moderately positive after the government approved $12 billion worth of bids for major upgrades at two oil refineries as part of the country’s delayed mega-development plan.

Last year the market was dampened by renewed disappointment at the pace of projects and investments; many delays were due to political tensions between the cabinet and parliament, and to bureaucratic inertia. So any progress in big infrastructure projects is seen as encouraging.

Saudi Arabia’s benchmark slipped 0.2 percent, easing off Monday’s five-year high. The market is up 3.8 percent year-to-date, underperforming Gulf peers as investors find fewer attractive buying opportunities and many wait for clarity on the extend of damage to companies from tight labour supplies due to a crackdown on illegal foreign workers.

Banking shares weighed with Al Rajhi down 1.4 percent and the sector index retreating 0.8 percent.

“There is uncertainty on the impact from the labour shortage – we would like to see things bottom out from an earnings perspective,” said Shuaa’s Khan.

Egypt’s benchmark index ticked up 0.1 percent as real estate-related shares rose. Most of the market’s recent gains have been due to anticipation of progress towards a democratically elected government with presidential and parliamentary elections due.

“All good news is priced in – now investors will wait to see more positive news coming from the political arena plus the implementation of the new economic policy, and if companies are able to benefit from that,” said Sebastien Henin, head of asset management at The National Investor in Abu Dhabi.

Egypt’s interim government unveiled on Monday its second stimulus package, which will inject 33.9 billion Egyptian pounds ($4.87 billion) into the economy.-Reuters

The article Dubai stocks extend gains appeared first on Arabian Post.