Thursday 23 September 2010

India rejects Etisalat share transfer plan

India has rejected a proposal to transfer shares from resident to non-resident in the India telecoms venture of UAE's Etisalat, a finance ministry statement said on Thursday, without citing a reason.

But Shahid Balwa, the vice chairman of the Indian unit, Etisalat DB Telecom Pvt Ltd, told Reuters the application was rejected due to "technical reasons" and the firm would re-apply with required documents.

"We are now submitting a fresh application, say within seven days," Balwa said.

Dubai Shares Advance as Axiom Telecom Said to Sell Shares in Initial Offer - Bloomberg

Dubai’s shares gained the most in a week as a proposed initial public offering from mobile-phone retailer Axiom Telecom LLC, the first such sale from the United Arab Emirates in more than a year, boosted investor confidence. Emaar Properties PJSC, developer of the world’s tallest skyscraper, rose 1.1 percent and Emirates NBD PJSC, the U.A.E.’s biggest bank by assets, advanced to the highest since May 18. The DFM General Index increased 0.9 percent to 1,689.45 at the 2 p.m. close in Dubai, bringing its gain for the week to 2.6 percent.

The IPO news “is positive for the market” and has helped improve investor sentiment, said Mohammed Ali Yasin, chief investment officer at financial services company CAPM Investment PJSC. “The market endured a lousy period where volumes were reaching a low point, there was over-pessimism. IPOs are important for us to recover.”

Companies from the Middle East had delayed share sales because of the global credit crisis. Dubai-based Axiom may sell shares next month and plans to offer 35 percent of its shares, a person familiar with the plan said yesterday. Shuaa Capital PSC, the U.A.E.’s biggest investment bank, is the book-runner for the transaction, said the person, who declined to be identified.

Mubadala Posts $1.2 Billion First-Half Comprehensive Loss on Investments - Bloomberg

Mubadala Development Co., an Abu Dhabi government investor with stakes in Carlyle Group and Ferrari SpA, reported a first-half comprehensive loss as its investments lost value because of the decline in global markets.

The loss was 4.5 billion dirhams ($1.2 billion) compared with a profit of 2.7 billion dirhams in the year-earlier period. Mubadala had an unrealized loss of 4.4 billion dirhams from public market investments in the first half, the company said in an e-mailed statement today.

“The numbers reflect the movements in shares for Aldar Properties, Du, AMD and General Electric,” Chief Operating Officer Waleed Al Mokarrab Al Muhairi said in a phone interview today. “They are non cash, mark to market. That is the source of all losses -- it is not the operating businesses and it is not the underlying health of Mubadala.”

Qatar Islamic Said to be Planning First Sale of Dollar-Denominated Sukuk - Bloomberg

Qatar Islamic Bank SAQ plans to sell its first dollar sukuk and will start meeting investors in the Middle East, Asia and Europe from tomorrow, according to a statement from the Gulf state’s biggest Shariah-compliant lender.

“The sukuk is expected to be launched, subject to market conditions” and Credit Suisse Group AG, HSBC Holdings Plc and Qatari investment bank QInvest have been hired to manage the issuance, said the statement posted on the Qatar Exchange website today. Chief Executive Officer Salah Mohammed Jaidah said on May 19 the company may issue up to $750 million of the notes that comply with the religion’s ban on interest.

Sales of Islamic bonds are picking up in the Persian Gulf after Dubai World reached an agreement with 99 percent of its creditors this month to change terms on $24.9 billion of debt. Banks and companies in the Middle East may sell $5.5 billion of sukuk in the fourth quarter, the most since the three months ended September 2007, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

UPDATE 1-Kuwait's Burgan Bank raises $400 mln from bond sale | Reuters

Kuwait's Burgan Bank (BURG.KW) raised $400 million in a 10-year bond sale on Thursday, at a coupon rate of 7.875 percent.

The dollar-denominated bond sale attracted a final book size of $1.5 billion, one source with a lead bank said, signalling the issue was oversubscribed nearly four times by investors.

Burgan Bank is the commercial banking arm of Kuwait Projects Co (KIPCO) (KPRO.KW), the country's largest investment company by assets, which priced a $500 million 10-year bond in July at 9.5 percent.

gulfnews : flydubai secures $750 million in aircraft financing

Flydubai said Wednesday it signed aircraft finance deals worth more than $750 million (Dh2.7 billion) — through General Electric Capital Aviation Services and Babcock and Brown Aircraft Management — which analysts say could lead to Dubai's budget airline flying far ahead of the region's competitors.

The UK's FBE Aerospace chief analyst Saj Ahmad told Gulf News: "Rivals will be worried that during the downturn they are not expanding and flydubai is. Flydubai will use the 737-800s on routes which rivals like Air Arabia [using the A320s] cannot match."

Sharjah's Air Arabia and Kuwait's Jazeera Airways share some of the most popular routes with flydubai. However, flydubai flies to destinations that the others don't, such as Erbil in the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq, Djibouti and Azerbaijan's Baku.

Abu Dhabi's Invest AD May Acquire 10% of Russia's 2014 Olympic Ski Resort - Bloomberg

Invest AD, an Abu Dhabi government- owned money manager, may acquire 10 percent of the Mountain Carousel ski resort being built for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi on Russia’s Black Sea coast.

Invest AD bought 3.5 percent and has an option to buy 6.5 percent more of the 40 billion-ruble ($1.3 billion) project, Magomed Bilalov, the deputy chairman of the board of OAO Krasnaya Polyana, which is developing Mountain Carousel, told reporters today in Moscow.

OAO Sberbank, Russia’s largest lender, holds 25 percent of the project and shareholders affiliated with the National Business Development Bank, or NBB, own 60 percent, Stanislav Kuznetsov, a senior vice president at Sberbank, said today.