Finance & Banking Bank of China lists $300m bonds on Nasdaq Dubai Bank of China, one of China’s top four state-owned banks, has listed $300 million bonds on Nasdaq Dubai, the United Arab Emirates’ state news agency WAM said on Tuesday. The bank issued the bonds, maturing in 2025, through its Dubai branch at a yield of 4.84 percent. The bonds, which have a coupon of 4.75 […] December 14, 2022
Finance & Banking Biden: US-Asean pact to address ‘biggest issues of our time’ Southeast Asian heads of government held talks on Saturday with visiting global leaders including US president Joe Biden, who hailed the launch of a new US-Asean pact as a critical step towards tackling “the biggest issues of our time”. In his first visit to Southeast Asia as president, Biden said the region was at the […] November 13, 2022
Real Estate Nakheel secures $4.6bn from Dubai banks to build more islands Dubai developer Nakheel has secured 17 billion dirhams ($4.63 billion) from local banks for projects including its latest collection of manmade islands, the company said on Tuesday. The state-owned developer best known for Palm Jebel Ali said the financing came from a syndicate of three Dubai lenders: Emirates NBD, Mashreq Bank and Dubai Islamic Bank. […] November 8, 2022
Finance & Banking Turkey’s inflation hits 24-year high of 85.5% after rate cuts Turkish annual inflation climbed to a new 24-year high of 85.51 percent in October, official data showed on Thursday, slightly below forecast, after the central bank cut its policy rate despite surging prices. Inflation has surged since last year, when the lira slumped after the central bank began cutting its policy rate in an easing […] November 4, 2022
Media Musk’s Twitter ownership starts with firing of top executives Elon Musk became Twitter Inc’s owner on Thursday, firing top executives and providing little clarity over how he will achieve the lofty ambitions he has outlined for the influential social media platform. “The bird is freed,” he tweeted, referencing Twitter’s bird logo in an apparent nod to his desire to see the company have fewer […] October 28, 2022
Finance & Banking Emirates NBD’s Q3 2022 profit climbs 51% on higher income Emirates NBD, Dubai’s biggest bank, reported on Thursday a 51 percent rise in net profit in the third quarter of 2022 on higher income, including net interest income and from transactions. Emirates NBD made net profit of AED3.8 billion ($1.03 billion) in the quarter from AED2.5 billion in the third quarter of 2021. EFG Hermes […] October 28, 2022
Analysis Finance & Banking Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund to deploy more into private credit Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) is upping its exposure to private credit to boost its returns, the world’s fifth largest sovereign wealth fund revealed in its 2021 annual review published on Thursday. Private credit has flourished since the 2008 global financial crisis as banks became more risk averse in their lending and interest rates plunged, […] October 27, 2022
Manufacturing Mercedes-Benz lifts profit forecast as luxury cars boom Mercedes-Benz raised its full-year profit forecast on Wednesday as strong demand for luxury cars and cost savings offset the supply chain bottlenecks that have hampered industry output this year. The German automaker said it now expected group earnings to rise at least 15% this year, compared with a previous forecast of 5%-15% growth, after profits […] October 27, 2022
Analysis Finance & Banking Mena markets buck global IPO downturn The Middle East and North Africa (Mena’s) IPO market continued to “forge its own path” during the first nine months of 2022, showing significant growth while the global landscape remained subdued. According to the latest EY Mena IPO Eye report, the Mena region witnessed a 288 percent year-on-year increase in the number of companies listing […] October 26, 2022
Energy Riyadh was more ‘mature’ in spat with Washington, minister tells FII Saudi Arabia decided to be the “maturer guys” in a spat with the United States over oil supplies, the kingdom’s energy minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said on Tuesday. Prince Abdulaziz made the comment during his speech to the kingdom’s Future Investment Initiative (FII) event, which has drawn top executives from the US and elsewhere. […] October 25, 2022
Opinion Science & Technology Ethereum has switched. Your move, bitcoin It's been more than a month since the ethereum switch, and while its market cap has fallen and bitcoin's has stayed flat, many think it's only a matter of time October 18, 2022
Analysis Finance & Banking MENA startup valuations take a hit as funding tightens Funding for startups in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) has continued to decline this year, in line with global trends, but industry experts remain optimistic that the end of the year will see a resurgence. The tightening of cash has also meant investors are looking for increasingly bigger stakes, resulting in startup valuations […] October 18, 2022
Finance & Banking Dubai funds Indian VC raising $225m to back domestic growth Indian VC firm Fireside Ventures has raised $225 million for its third fund to back domestic consumer brands, with backers including Investment Corp of Dubai (ICD). The investment in 25 to 30 Indian startups is the latest bet on Asia’s third largest economy, as startup funding dries up globally. The early-stage investor said the new […] October 12, 2022
Economy Sri Lanka approves downgrade to ‘low income country’ Sri Lanka’s cabinet has approved a proposal to downgrade the island nation’s economic status to “low income country”, in order to get access to concessional funding from international organisations, the cabinet spokesman said on Tuesday. Sri Lanka’s economy is in a deep slump, shrinking at an annual 8.4 percent in the June quarter in one […] October 11, 2022
Finance & Banking Erdogan vows to cut rates ‘as long as he remains president’ Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan vowed on Saturday that the central bank would continue to cut its policy interest rates every month for as long as he stayed in power, after it surprised markets by cutting rates twice in the last two months. “As long as this brother of yours is in this position, the interest […] October 9, 2022
Finance & Banking UAE stocks buoyed by oil price rally on back of OPEC+ cuts Key stock markets in the UAE closed higher on Friday, tracking the rally in oil prices following the OPEC+ announcement late on Wednesday of a two million barrel per day (bpd) cut to its production quota from November. Dubai’s main share index DFMGI rose 0.7 percent. The Dubai bourse registered a weekly gain of over […] October 7, 2022
Finance & Banking HSBC eyes sale of ‘profitable’ Canadian business at premium HSBC is considering selling its business in Canada, worth billions of dollars and one of the biggest international banking brands in the country, as it looks to beef up returns as demanded by its largest shareholder. “We are currently reviewing our strategic options with respect to our wholly owned subsidiary in Canada,” the bank said […] October 5, 2022
Finance & Banking Hospital operator Burjeel aims to raise up to $368m from IPO Abu Dhabi-based Burjeel Holdings set a price range of AED 2 to AED 2.45 ($0.5446 to $0.6671) a share for its initial public offering (IPO) that opened for subscription on Friday, valuing the hospital operator at $3.3 billion at the top end. The selling shareholder expects to sell more than 350 million shares, or seven […] September 30, 2022
Finance & Banking Venture capital firms back female business founders in MENA Playfair Capital and Dubai-based Global Ventures have launched ‘Female Founder Office Hours’ across MENA – with 150 leading venture capital funds hosting virtual mentoring sessions for more than 400 women founders on November 10. The eighth edition of Female Founder Office Hours since it was launched in the UK in 2019 is part of a […] September 26, 2022
Finance & Banking Turkey mulls new regulations to prevent stock market manipulation Turkish authorities are expected to make stock market regulatory changes within a few days to prevent market manipulation after sharp falls in prices due to margin calls on futures positions, market participants and analysts said. They said the issue was likely to be among those discussed at a meeting which President Tayyip Erdogan convened on […] September 25, 2022
Energy Berlin, Paris and Madrid unveil plans to cope with energy crunch European governments have outlined new measures to cope with potential energy shortages this winter and improve networks so they can share power, as the war in Ukraine continues to affect gas flows from Russia. On Monday, Spain unveiled plans that could force energy-intensive industries to shut at peak demand times; France said it was preparing […] September 19, 2022
Finance & Banking IMF to send mission to Lebanon to discuss slow reform progress The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Thursday that a staff mission will visit Lebanon next week to discuss ways to “speed up” implementation of agreed reforms required for an IMF loan program amid deteriorating living conditions in the country. “We are looking to support Lebanon as strongly as we can. It’s a difficult situation,” […] September 16, 2022
