Banking & Finance Kuwait sovereign fund to offload stake in Mercedes-Benz By Pramod Kumar March 29, 2023, 5:20 AM Creative Commons Kuwait Investment Authority is the third-largest shareholder in Mercedes-Benz Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA), a sovereign wealth fund, plans to reduce its stake in the German luxury carmaker Mercedes-Benz by selling 20 million shares. The Kuwaiti fund is the third-largest shareholder in Frankfurt-listed Mercedes-Benz. At price guidance of €69.27 ($18.86) per share, KIA may raise €1.385 billion ($1.5 billion), which will reduce its stake to less than five percent from the current 6.84 percent, Reuters reported. “The KIA is committed to continuing the successful partnership with Mercedes-Benz and will remain a key shareholder,” the German carmaker said in e-mailed comments. In September 2022, Bloomberg reported that KIA was planning to move the management of a $7 billion fund from London back to its home country. The wealth fund will oversee the satellite fund from its Kuwaiti headquarters instead of the London-based Kuwait Investment Office. However, the fund will remain housed in the UK.
Mining Ma’aden signs $1bn contracts to develop industrial cities Saudi mineral giant Ma’aden has signed three contracts worth a combined $922 million with foreign companies to develop a third phosphate fertiliser project. The majority state-owned Saudi mining company announced the agreements in a note to the Saudi bourse on Thursday, coinciding with the final day of the Future Minerals Forum in Riyadh. Ma’aden is […] 4 hours ago
Tax $660m a year ‘sin tax’ target set by Kuwait Kuwait hopes to raise 200 million dinars ($660 million) a year through a “sin tax” on unhealthy products as part of tax reforms proposed by the International Monetary Fund, the country’s finance minister said on Wednesday. Noora Al-Fassam told the official Kuwaiti news agency that her ministry was working on a new law for a […] 5 hours ago
Transport Tenders issued for high speed Abu Dhabi-Dubai rail link Tenders have been issued for the design and construction of central components in a high-speed rail link between Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Etihad Rail, the national rail company of the UAE, has sent out tenders for designing and constructing civil works and station packages for the line connecting the two cities as part of the […] 6 hours ago
EXCLUSIVE Aviation Wizz Air increases flights from UAE to Israel after ceasefire The budget carrier Wizz Air is increasing the number of flights between Abu Dhabi and Tel Aviv after the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas. The airline had previously scaled back its Tel Aviv-Abu Dhabi service to four flights a week because of the conflict, down from its pre-crisis schedule of two flights a day. […] 6 hours ago