Banking and Finance Omantel to buy back over $350m of its bonds Oman Telecommunications, majority owned by the state, said in a bourse filing it has accepted to buy more than $350 million of its existing bonds for cash. Omantel earlier this month made a tender offer to holders of its $600 million bonds due in 2023 and $900 million bonds maturing in 2028. It will buy […] October 21, 2022
Banking and Finance Sharjah developer Arada raises $100m in tap of existing sukuk Sharjah-based Arada Developments raised $100 million in Islamic bonds on Thursday in a reopening of a transaction that raised $350m in May, a bank document showed. The sukuk tap was priced at 99 cents on the dollar, yielding investors 8.386 percent, the document showed. The order book size was not disclosed. The sukuk issued in […] October 21, 2022
Economy Sterling rallies as UK PM Liz Truss resigns over mini budget fiasco Sterling pared gains following the announcement that Liz Truss was resigning as prime minister of the UK. The country’s mid caps jumped as much as one percent as Truss, speaking outside the door of her Number 10 Downing Street office, said a leadership election would be completed within the next week. Truss appointment as UK […] October 20, 2022
Retail Winter World Cup may be nightmare for British stores The winter World Cup has added a new level of uncertainty to the Christmas trading outlook of Britain’s supermarkets: How do you persuade cash-strapped shoppers to buy yule logs and luxury biscuits at the same time as beer and pizza? Running between November 20 and December 18, the soccer tournament in Qatar falls directly in […] October 20, 2022
Banking and Finance Israel eyes bond issuance via blockchain technology Israel’s government is preparing to issue government bonds using a blockchain technology platform, the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) said on Wednesday. Implementation of advanced technologies such as blockchain, the TASE said, would reduce costs, shorten the duration issuance and clearing of government bonds, improve transparency and mitigate risks. The issuance is still in the […] October 20, 2022
Energy US hedge fund asks Capricorn Energy to ditch Israel deal Irenic Capital Management, a hedge fund that owns a 1.5 percent stake in Capricorn Energy Plc, asked the natural gas producer on Wednesday to abandon its sale to Israel’s NewMed Energy LP in favour of selling its assets piecemeal. Irenic’s intervention challenges a deal that would create a London and Tel Aviv-listed gas giant, at […] October 20, 2022
Media & Advertising Saudi MBC Group signs deals with Turkish production companies Saudi-owned MBC Group, the Middle East’s largest broadcaster, said on Wednesday it had signed a five-year partnership with two Turkish production houses, signalling an end to an unofficial boycott imposed on Turkey by Saudi Arabia as the two countries work to improve ties. MBC, which in March 2018 scrapped Turkish programmes including soap operas popular […] October 20, 2022
Saudi-based Islamic Development Bank markets 5-year Islamic bond The Islamic Development Bank has given initial price guidance for a planned five-year Islamic bond at around mid-60s basis points over the five-year US secured overnight financing rate (SOFR), a bank document showed. BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole, Dukhan Bank, Goldman Sachs, The Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector, JPMorgan, Mizuho , SNB […] October 20, 2022
Banking and Finance Flurry of funds bet on bruised bitcoin and ether allure A growing number of funds are betting on the long-term appeal of bitcoin and ether, a gritty gambit in the depths of a crypto winter. Unfazed by a collapse in prices over the past 11 months, investment firms have unleashed a flurry of exchange-traded funds, anticipating that elite cryptocurrencies and their underlying technology will eventually […] October 19, 2022
Banking and Finance Lebanon passes new banking secrecy law after IMF concerns Lebanon’s parliament on Thursday passed another round of amendments to a banking secrecy law after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said a previous draft retained key deficiencies. The IMF has laid out a list of reforms, including amending its banking secrecy law, that Lebanon must implement before it can gain access to $3 billion to […] October 19, 2022
Tourism Qatar Airways cuts flights to free up space for World Cup traffic Qatar Airways has withdrawn flights from 18 destinations to make space at Hamad International Airport for airlines carrying fans to next month’s soccer World Cup, the company’s CEO said on Tuesday. Qatar Airways chief executive Akbar Al Baker said the priority now was to accommodate the hundreds of flights that will be landing in the […] October 19, 2022
Banking and Finance Abu Dhabi’s ADQ takes ownership of Etihad Aviation Group Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund ADQ said on Tuesday the government had transferred full ownership of Etihad Aviation Group (EAG) to the fund. “The transfer of EAG complements ADQ’s efforts to transform Abu Dhabi into a global aviation hub anchored in end-to-end airport service excellence,” ADQ said in a statement. The smallest of Abu Dhabi’s […] October 19, 2022
Banking and Finance Turkish central bank takes more steps to boost lira deposits Turkey’s central bank took fresh steps to boost lira deposits on Tuesday, raising the ratio of bonds that banks must hold for foreign exchange deposits and requiring those with less than 50 percent lira deposits to hold even more bonds from next year. The central bank raised the securities maintenance ratio required for forex deposits […] October 18, 2022
Banking and Finance Credit Suisse seeks capital top-up from Middle East wealth funds Credit Suisse Group has approached at least one Middle Eastern sovereign wealth fund for a capital injection, a source said, while some funds are looking at the scandal-hit Swiss bank’s businesses as potential investment opportunities. Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia were weighing up, through their sovereign wealth funds, whether to put money into Credit Suisse’s […] October 18, 2022
Banking and Finance ‘Economic diplomacy’: how ADQ is bolstering UAE goals The ADQ fund’s investments across the Middle East and North Africa are part of an “economic diplomacy” strategy designed to build the UAE’s alliances with the likes of Turkey, Israel and Egypt, three sources have said. ADQ, the smallest of Abu Dhabi’s three main sovereign wealth funds, began in 2018 as a vehicle for holding […] October 17, 2022
Lifestyle BTS reunite to back South Korea’s bid to host World Expo 2030 K-pop superstars BTS reunited on Saturday for a concert to support South Korea’s bid to host the World Expo 2030 in Busan. The free concert – dubbed “BTS in BUSAN” – drew an audience of about 52,000 people to a stadium in the southern port city, according to the Yonhap News Agency. In total, 100,000 fans […] October 17, 2022
Economy China’s Xi talks up security, COVID stance as congress opens Chinese President Xi Jinping called for accelerating the building of a world-class military while touting the fight against COVID-19 as he kicked off a Communist Party Congress by focussing heavily on security and reiterating policy priorities. Xi, 69, is widely expected to win a third leadership term at the conclusion of the week-long congress that […] October 17, 2022
Media & Advertising Rupert Murdoch starts process to reunite Fox and News Corp Rupert Murdoch has started a process that could reunite his media empire, News Corp and Fox Corp disclosed on Friday, saying they would consider combining at his behest, nearly a decade after the companies split. Both have formed special committees to review proposals of a potential combination, they said. If a deal goes through, the […] October 16, 2022
Energy Turkey backs Russia’s gas plan as Nord Stream faces long outage Large sections of the damaged Nord Stream pipelines built to supply gas to Europe might need to be replaced, the head of Gazprom said, while Turkey on Friday backed Russian proposals to build a gas hub there as an alternative supply route. Russian President Vladimir Putin this week proposed Turkey as a base for gas […] October 16, 2022
Banking and Finance IMF and Egypt agreement set to finalise ‘very soon’ The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Egyptian authorities have agreed to finalise work to reach a staff-level agreement ‘very soon’, the multilateral lender said on Saturday. “IMF staff and the Egyptian authorities have held very productive in-person discussions on the margins of the IMF and World Bank Annual Meetings and made substantial progress on […] October 16, 2022
Business of Sport Real Madrid renews sponsorship deal with Emirates until 2026 Spanish soccer club Real Madrid has renewed a sponsorship deal with the airline Emirates until 2026, the team said on Friday. While the parties did not disclose financial details, Spanish sports newspaper Marca reported the contract’s value at about €70 million per year plus variables. The United Arab Emirates flag carrier’s logo has been emblazoned […] October 16, 2022
Banking and Finance Twitter says Musk is under federal investigations over $44bn deal Elon Musk is being investigated by federal authorities over his conduct in his $44 billion takeover deal for Twitter Inc, the social media company said in a court filing released on Thursday. While the filing said he was under investigations, it did not say what the exact focus of the probes was and which federal […] October 14, 2022
