Finance
Qatar to be LSE's biggest investor
A deal that will make Qatar the largest shareholder in the London Stock Exchange moved closer to completion as talks advanced with Dubai, the bourse's biggest investor.
Under a deal being hammered out between the sovereign wealth funds of the rival emirates, Dubai has agreed to trade about 5 per cent of its holding in the LSE in exchange for Qatar's 9.98 per cent stake in OMX, the Nordic exchange group Dubai is taking over.
Baitak signs deal with Goldman Sachs to launch US$50 billion portfolio
Kuwait Finance House (Baitak) has recently confirmed signing an agreement with global investment-bank Goldman Sachs to establish a US$50 billion-portfolio, marking the first portfolio transacting trade using contracts of sale targeting the commodities market.
Qatar sees investment opportunities in U.S. banks
The US$60 billion Qatar Investment Authority said it saw "tremendous opportunities" for sovereign wealth funds like itself to invest in U.S. financial-services firms battered by a mortgage market crisis.
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, the world's largest sovereign wealth fund, agreed to invest US$7.5 billion in Citigroup last month, with the U.S. bank facing more than US$17 billion in second-half write-downs from credit market losses.
The Central Bank of UAE considers issuing three licenses to GCC banks
The governor of the UAE central bank asserted that the bank is currently considering issuing licenses to three GCC-based banks, pointing out that another three regional banks are presently under incorporation.
The banking sector in the UAE sustained rapid growth in 2007, sending total assets controlled by national and foreign banks operating in the UAE to more than AED1.039 trillion. Banking sector profits are expected to notably boom by the end of this year.
Bahrain: Investcorp announces registration of Gulf Opportunity Fund
Investcorp has announced the completion of the registration of its Gulf Opportunity Fund I with the Central Bank of Bahrain. Gulf Opportunity Fund I is the private equity fund of Investcorp's Gulf Growth Capital line of business.
Gulf Growth Capital co-head, Christophe de Mahieu, explained that domiciling the Fund in Bahrain offered Investcorp unique advantages for investing in private equity deals in the region in comparison to funds registered outside the region.
Qatar Holding withdraws bid for Nordic exchange OMX
Qatar Holding has withdrawn its request to become a major stakeholder in the Nordic and Baltic exchange OMX, the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority (FI) announced earlier this month.
"A representative for Qatar Holding notified FI that the company was withdrawing its application for ownership assessment that was submitted on October 2," it said in a statement.
With Greece as springboard, Dubai embarks on Balkan spending spree
Armed with the business smarts of Greek shipowners and plenty of cash from the emirate of Dubai, a new conglomerate named Marfin Investment Group has been taking the Balkans by storm in a string of high-profile buyouts. Better known as just Marfin -- or MIG for short -- the group has risen from humble origins as a small Greek bank to invest €5.2 billion euros (US$7.7 billion) in Greece and Cyprus.
SHUAA ranks as 23rd biggest IPO manager in the world
A Bloomberg report ranked the pioneering Dubai-based investment Bank, SHUAA Capital, as the 23rd biggest manager of initial share public offerings worldwide in 2007. This was achieved following SHUAA's participation in floating Dubai Ports World for subscription at the Dubai International Financial Exchange, valued at AED18.2 billion (US$4.96 billion).
Mideast private equity firms to raise US$50 billion
Private equity firms in the Middle East could raise and invest about US$50 billion during the next few years as regional governments open their industries to more private investment, Dubai-based Abraaj Capital said.
Executive Briefing: Credit woes grow as Fed chooses recession over inflation
As we warned last month, the worst of the news regarding credit market losses was yet to come. Since then, estimates of global losses have risen dramatically, as have US mortgage delinquencies. Caught between fears of a deepening liquidity crunch and incipient inflation, the US Federal Reserve moved cautiously to cut its benchmark lending rate by only 25 basis points to 4.25%. Within hours, four Gulf region countries followed suit and cut their rates by the same margin.
Arab shares attract a following
Arab stocks, the world's best-performing this quarter, are luring BlackRock, Deutsche Asset Management and William Blair & Co. with the least-costly shares since at least 2005.
Funds run by the three firms, which together oversee about US$100 billion, are investing for the first time within the GCC - Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman - because Middle East economies may expand at twice the global pace next year.
