Infrastructure Egypt chooses British Steel for Green Line rail track British Steel, the UK steel products producer, has secured a multi-million-pound deal to supply parts for a new rail route stretching across Egypt. In total 9,500 tonnes of track will be delivered for Egypt’s Green Line, its first fully electrified mainline and freight network from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean. The exact value of […] April 4, 2024
Opinion Tourism Craving for community sets travel trends for Ramadan European Muslims are increasingly keen to travel to Islamic countries to celebrate March 27, 2024
Agriculture Hydroponics allows family to become first Saudi tomato exporter A family company has become the first exporter of tomatoes from Saudi Arabia, thanks to drip irrigation, which has made sending fruit and vegetables from the Gulf to lucrative European markets economically viable. Dava, a private company set up by the Batal family in 2017, began exporting various types of tomato and “snack peppers” – […] March 26, 2024
Food & Drink Gulf SWFs named as potential suitors of The Ivy Gulf sovereign wealth funds are among a host of buyers said to be interested in taking charge of the group behind the UK’s prestigious Ivy restaurant. A £1 billion ($1.26 billion) sale is expected to be complete by the end of June. Troia, the company that owns the Ivy and some 50 other restaurants, is […] March 25, 2024
Opinion Transport If EVs can make it here, they can make it anywhere The battery powered car is on the up, even in the oil-soaked Gulf March 25, 2024
Analysis Real Estate What Dubai’s united nations of property buyers want When purchasing a property in Dubai amenities are important to Brits, while Indian buyers are all about the return on investment, according to real estate experts. Last year Dubai recorded 1.6 million real estate transactions, a record 17 percent year-on-year increase, according to data from the Dubai Land Department. The demand comes from a largely […] March 25, 2024
Industry Emirates Global Aluminium buys German recycling business Emirates Global Aluminium, the UAE’s biggest non-oil industrial company and one of the world’s largest aluminium producers, has signed a binding sale and purchase agreement to acquire a German aluminium recycling business. The transaction to acquire 100 percent of Leichtmetall Aluminium Giesserei Hannover, a subsidiary of an investment fund managed by Quantum Capital Partners, is […] March 21, 2024
Opinion Agriculture The memory of water: Saudi Arabia’s troubled history Growing crops and preserving water is a balancing act for Saudi Arabia March 20, 2024
Construction Gulf funds investing in Cyprus ‘only a question of time’ Three sovereign wealth funds from the Gulf are in discussions to invest in real estate projects in Cyprus, according to one of the island’s biggest developers. “It’s only a question of time that it is going to happen,” said Pantelis Leptos, co-president of the developer Leptos Estates, without giving further details on the wealth funds […] March 19, 2024
Economy EU agrees $8bn funding package with Egypt The European Union has agreed a €7.4 billion ($8 billion) funding package and upgraded its relationship with Egypt after a meeting in Cairo on Sunday between the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, and Egypt’s president, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. The deal consists of €5 billion in concessional loans, €1.8 billion of investments and €600 […] March 18, 2024
Health ‘Smart ring’ project aims to help fight chronic health problems A wearable “health ring” is being used by a Dubai-based healthcare technology startup to help combat the Middle East region’s metabolic diseases crisis. The company, Metabolic – which brands itself as meta[bolic] – has signed a partnership with the Finnish maker of the Oura Ring, and aims to stem the billions lost in healthcare systems […] March 16, 2024
Trade UK and Turkey open fresh trade negotiations The UK and Turkey have launched fresh trade talks targeting the services sector as part of any new deal. The two countries are planning to enhance their current trade deal, which was negotiated back in the 1990s and has remained despite the UK leaving the European Union in 2020. Bilateral trade stood at £26 billion […] March 15, 2024
People & Lifestyle UK’s non-dom shake-up to attract high earners to Gulf There is likely to be an influx of expats and returning nationals to the Gulf as a result of the UK’s abolition of non-domicile tax status from April 2025, experts told AGBI. ‘Non-doms’ live in the UK but claim to have a permanent residence in another country, so they do not pay tax on overseas […] March 15, 2024
Video length: 09:01 Analysis Economy Currency bond traders flow into Egypt after bailout deals JPMorgan Chase & Co has issued a circular urging its clients to buy up Egyptian sovereign debt, less than two months after it removed Egypt from local-currency bond indexes. “The Egypt carry trade is back in focus, and this time should be different,” the New York bank’s Gbolahan Taiwao wrote in a note on March […] March 14, 2024
Trade UAE developer wins $6bn Budapest contract An Emirati developer has finalised a €5.5 billion ($6 billion) deal to transform a rundown area of Budapest in the same week that the UAE and Hungary signed an economic cooperation agreement aimed at improving bilateral trade and investment. Eagle Hills International, which is based in Abu Dhabi, has partnered with the Hungarian government to […] March 14, 2024
Economy Germany commits $282m in low-cost funding to Egypt Germany has pledged to commit €258 million ($282 million) to Egypt in the form of debt swaps, grants and concessional financing, Egyptian minister of international cooperation Rania Al Mashat said. The government has approved €54 million from Germany to finance the smart energy project within the national platform of the Nexus of Water, Food and […] March 14, 2024
Analysis Trade Boats, baubles and balsamic lift Italian exports to UAE Italian boat manufacturers were out in force at the Dubai International Boat Show earlier this month, doubtless buoyed by the news that nautical exports to the UAE totalled nearly $120 million in the first 11 months of 2023. More than 20 Italian companies attended the event at Dubai Harbour, part of a strengthening Italy-UAE trade […] March 14, 2024
Construction London architect HKS to design Diriyah’s 20,000-seat Arena Saudi Arabia has hired a London-based architecture practice to design a sports and entertainment venue in Riyadh’s historic district of Diriyah, close to the site where a landmark opera house will be built. “The architecture rises from the landscape as a series of monoliths, evoking local geological formations and alluding to ancient Nadji forts and […] March 13, 2024
Renewable Energy XLinks reaffirms UK is priority for Morocco power project British renewable power company Xlinks is “100 percent committed to the UK” despite reports suggesting it was refocusing its attention on Germany. Xlinks is overseeing the $22 billion Morocco-UK renewables project, which involves building solar panel and wind farms in the desert of the North African country. Via the installation of high-voltage direct current (HVDC) […] March 13, 2024
Finance Bahraini fund hires bank to find buyer for McLaren stake Bahrain’s sovereign fund has hired bankers to find a potential buyer for its stake in the British carmaker McLaren Group, according to a UK media report. Mumtalakat Holdings, which holds a 50 percent stake in McLaren, has hired JP Morgan following an order from King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, The Sunday Times reported. JP […] March 12, 2024
Business of Sport Oman Air and Chelsea FC ‘terminate sponsorship deal’ A sponsorship deal between Oman Air and English Premier League club Chelsea FC has reportedly been terminated less than a year after it was signed. The three-year agreement was believed to be worth about £2 million ($2.5 million) a year and was announced last July. The partnership, which made the flag carrier the club’s global […] March 11, 2024
Trade Tech deal aims to improve UK-Saudi trade engagement The UK and Saudi Arabia signed an agreement on Monday aimed at elevating science and technology links and trade growth opportunities. Officials said the deal will pave the way for the UK and Saudi Arabia to work together on deep science and technology breakthroughs that underpin progress in tackling challenges such as food security and […] March 5, 2024
