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Finance

Finance, economics, markets and trade news from the Middle East. All the important stories, exclusive interviews, plus authoritative opinion and analysis

Finance overview

Finance news

Gulf Islamic Investments

UAE investment firm launches $100m debt fund

Gulf Islamic Investments, the UAE-based shari’ah-compliant global alternative investment company, is launching a $100 million debt fund. The new fund, known as GDF-I, will focus on supporting high growth companies in resilient sectors such as consumer, healthcare, education, logistics and technology in the GCC region. It will also target high growth Indian companies looking to expand […]

Finger, Person, Hand

Israel plans to draft law to shield mortgages from rate hikes

The head of the Israeli parliament’s powerful finance committee on Monday criticised a wave of central bank interest hikes and said he would propose legislation to minimise their impact on mortgage holders. In a bid to fight rising inflation, the Bank of Israel last week raised its benchmark interest rate by a half-point to an […]

Venture capitalists flock to fund DeFi and Web3 startups

Decentralised finance (DeFi) and Web3 were the primary targets of early-stage startup funding from some of the top private investors in the third quarter, research firm Pitchbook said on Tuesday, even as overall venture capital investments declined. Web3 – a term used to describe a potential next phase of the internet – firms that were […]

Food, Snack, Fries

KFC Mena franchisee generates $105bn in orders for dual IPO

Americana Restaurants, the Middle East and North Africa franchisee of KFC and Pizza Hut, has set the final offer price for its upcoming initial public offering at $0.71 per share in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, the UAE state-owned WAM news agency reported. The dual listing on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) and the […]

UK offshore wind

UK energy windfall tax ‘could scare off Gulf investors’

London’s plan to introduce a windfall tax on the profits of energy producers has prompted widespread disdain from the industry. Experts have warned that the tax could harm the country’s long-term economic growth and deter international investors, including those from the Gulf, from pursuing new deals. On November 17, chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced he would […]

New Zealand faces ‘shallow’ recession as rates need to rise

New Zealand is likely facing a “shallow” recession as interest rates need to rise further to tame inflation, a top central banker said on Monday, suggesting that a pause in the policy tightening streak was still a distant prospect. In an interview, Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) assistant governor Karen Silk said the central […]

Qatar’s Q3 private sector exports surge 58%

Qatar’s private sector exports reached QAR 9.38 billion ($2.58 billion) during the third quarter of 2022, a rise of 58 percent year-on-year, Qatar Chamber said in a quarterly report. The increase affirms the ongoing improvement of the private sector’s performance and a return to pre-pandemic levels, the report said. The total value of private sector […]

Office Building, Building, Architecture

Abu Dhabi fund among investors to fund Citi Mexico suitor’s bid

Mexico’s Banca Mifel has lined up investors including Apollo Global Management and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) to fund a bid for Citigroup Inc’s Mexican retail bank, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. The debt financing could attract more investors to join in Mifel’s bid to buy Citibanamex, although there is enough […]

Symbol, Logo, Trademark

Egypt not out of the woods after IMF rescue deal

Egypt’s finances remain in a precarious state despite two major currency devaluations this year and a brand new $3 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) rescue package, economists say. With debt interest payments set to soak up over 40 percent of the government’s revenues next year and a lack of foreign currency still hurting the economy, […]

Turkey central bank halts easing cycle after rate cut to 9%

Turkey’s central bank cut its policy rate by 150 basis points to nine percent as expected on Thursday and said it decided to halt its easing cycle, in line with President Tayyip Erdogan’s call for a single-digit rate by year-end despite inflation above 85 percent. The lira weakened to a record low of 18.66 to […]

Clinic, Person, Human

Saudi eyecare group Magrabi plans IPO of hospitals business

Saudi eyecare group Magrabi, which runs one of the largest chains of optical retail stores and eye clinics in the Middle East, is considering a flotation of its hospitals business next year and has hired banks for the deal, two sources familiar with the matter said. Magrabi has mandated Rothschild & Co as financial advisor […]

City, Urban, Street

Lebanon’s economy contracting at slower pace, says World Bank

Lebanon’s economy, hit by one of the world’s most severe crises, continues to contract although the pace of that contraction has somewhat slowed, the World Bank said in a report published Wednesday. Real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) – a measure of the total value of a country’s economy – in the tiny Mediterranean nation is […]

Omani bank gets tight pricing for small perpetual bond sale

The National Bank of Oman on Thursday raised $134.1 million from a sale of Additional Tier 1 bonds at 6.75 percent, tighter than perpetual bonds it sold in April last year, a bank document showed on Thursday. The unrated bonds were pre-sold to Omani investors, a source familiar with the matter said, asking not to […]

UAE’s deal-hungry IHC plans health and IT business IPOs

International Holding Company (IHC) plans to sell 20 percent of its technology unit in an initial public offering (IPO) next year, its CEO told Reuters, adding that the UAE’s IHC is aiming for a first quarter IPO of Pure Health to raise more than $1 billion. IHC, which rose from relative obscurity to become the […]

GCC and India agree to resume free trade talks

India and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have agreed to resume talks on a free trade agreement, India’s trade minister Piyush Goyal said, as his nation seeks closer ties with one of its largest trading partners. The talks mark the third such attempt by India and the GCC to ink a trade pact, with negotiations […]

European expat UAE

‘Second wave’ of wealthy Europeans moving to UAE

An influx of wealthy Europeans are investing in and moving to the UAE as they face economic and political uncertainty at home, according to leading industry experts. “We’re seeing a new wave of wealthy entrepreneurs moving here,” Dubai-based Arnaud Leclercq, partner holding privé and head of new markets at Lombard Odier, told AGBI. Leclercq said […]

Arabs invest

Younger Arabs invest in equity markets, tech and Islamic finance

Nearly three-quarters of rich young Arabs believe equity markets will continue to perform well and are actively planning to invest, with regional entities, Islamic finance, technology and sustainability their key priorities. Geneva-headquartered global wealth and asset management company Lombard Odier surveyed around 200 high net worth individuals with assets of at least $1 million across […]

Credit Suisse shareholders approve $4.2bn capital raise

Credit Suisse shareholders have approved a 4 billion Swiss franc ($4.20 billion) equity capital hike earmarked to finance the embattled Swiss bank’s turnaround. Some 92 percent and 98 percent of shareholders at an extraordinary general meeting supported the two share capital increases which were first proposed last month under the scandal-prone bank’s restructuring plan. “Today’s […]