Retail

Bahrain fund makes $700m approach for Peacocks chain

Arcapita, the Bahrain-based investment fund, has made an unsolicited approach to buy Peacocks, one of Britain's largest discount fashion retailers, for about $700m. The approach is understood to have been made in recent weeks and comes as a new wave of Gulf-based private equity investors, driven in part by the ongoing oil boom, look to invest their cash.

NoozzVIEW; Qataris shelve bid

The Qataris have exonerated many of the pundits and dismayed some City investors by pulling out of their long-running bid for Britain's third largest supermarket chain, J Sainsbury, thus ending the year's most controversial bid saga.

UAE Dubai opening up for retail investors

Private investors are set to gain greater access to the Dubai growth story with the launch of the first UK retail fund focused on the emirate. Killick & Co, a London-based private client stockbroker, hopes that its new fund will tap into the fast-growing Dubai economy while taking advantage of the relatively undervalued shares on the local stock market.

Malaysian couture out to wow the Middle East

Malaysian couture designers are drawing on their country's Islamic heritage to lure wealthy Gulf Arab fashionistas seeking a conservative, yet contemporary, alternative to Western luxury brands. Malaysian designers say Middle Eastern buyers, especially those from the oil producing Gulf region currently flush with petrodollars, appreciate the way the garments match their lifestyle and largely traditional culture, which require women to be modestly dressed in public.

Pizza Inn announces multi-unit agreement in Kuwait

Pizza Inn, Inc. announced the signing of a multi-unit development agreement to open 20 new Pizza Inn restaurants in the country of Kuwait. Pizza Inn, famous for its made from scratch crusts, has awarded a master license agreement to the Raja Company W.I.I., based in Kuwait City, in a continuation of the brand's expansion throughout the Middle East and into Asia.

Japan eyes over US$3.5 billion UAE food market

Under the auspices of Japan's ministry of agriculture, forestry and fisheries, Sun Globe Foods Inc, a Tokyo-based Japan government-designated export promotion enterprise, commenced Oishii Nippon [Tasty Japan], a food promotional campaign in Dubai, in collaboration with Daisho Emirates, a Japanese food importer and distribution company. Ahead of the company's expansion plan into the Gulf markets in early 2008, Daisho has recently set up an office in Dubai and a warehouse in Sharjah.