Sunday 17 October 2010

Aluminium Bahrain Seeks to Raise $541 Million From Initial Share Offering - Bloomberg

Aluminium Bahrain BSC, the operator of an 850,000-metric-ton-a-year smelter, plans to raise as much as 204 million dinars ($541 million) from an initial share sale as Persian Gulf markets recover from the global credit crisis.

Mumtalakat Holding Co., Bahrain’s sovereign wealth fund, plans to sell as many as 163.3 million shares between Oct. 24 and Nov. 4 in the IPO, Aluminium Bahrain, known as Alba, said in an e-mailed statement today. Retail investors will be offered shares at 1.25 dinars apiece and institutional investors between 0.9 dinar and 1.25 dinars. Global depository receipts will be sold for $11.97 and $16.62, with each GDR representing five ordinary shares.

Persian Gulf companies are joining a surge in emerging market share sales to raise funds as regional stock markets rebound and companies restructure their debt. Nawras, the Omani mobile-phone company controlled by Qatar Telecom QSC, is in the middle of a book-built IPO. Axiom Ltd., a unit of a Dubai-based phone retailer, plans to sell a 35 percent stake in an IPO by the end of the year.

Sabic Profit Jumps 46% as Fertilizer, Plastic Demand Rises, Prices Boosted - Bloomberg

Saudi Basic Industries Corp., the world’s biggest petrochemicals maker, said third-quarter profit jumped 46 percent on higher prices, increased demand for its products and income from units.

Net income advanced to 5.33 billion riyals ($1.42 billion) from 3.65 billion riyals a year earlier, the Riyadh-based company said in a statement to the Saudi bourse today. The median of five analyst estimates was for a profit of 4.63 billion riyals, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Sabic expanded sales of fertilizer and plastics as demand increased and petrochemical prices rose from last year. The Saudi Arabian economy is expected to grow 3.5 percent this year as the Arab world’s largest economy gains momentum from government spending and higher oil prices, central bank Governor Muhammad al-Jasser said last month.

Sol Kerzner's Dubai assets attract buyout bid | HotelierMiddleEast.com

Investment firm BMB Group has made an unsolicited bid of US $3.4 billion cash for Kerzner International Holdings.

"We are not interested in casino assets, but are growing our global real estate exposure and are particularly interested in the hospitality sector," BMB said in a statement.

South African hotel heavyweight Sol Kerzner took the company private in 2006 and operates resorts and luxury hotels, including Atlantis resorts in the Bahamas and Dubai and Mazagan Beach Resort in Morocco.

Dubai Shares Drop on Concern Earnings May Miss Estimates, Retreat in Crude - Bloomberg

Dubai shares declined for a second day on concern companies in the emirate will report lower-than- expected third-quarter earnings and after oil tumbled to the lowest level in two weeks.

Emaar Properties PJSC, builder of the world’s tallest skyscraper, led the decline and Arabtec Holding Co. slipped 1.8 percent. The DFM General Index retreated 0.1 percent to 1,744.46 as 12 stocks fell, seven rose and 13 were unchanged. The benchmark index closed at the lowest since Oct. 12. The index has gained 19 percent so far in the second half of the year. Most other Middle East markets were little changed.

“Investors are waiting at the sidelines as they anticipate third-quarter results,” said Haissam Arabi, chief executive officer of Gulfmena Alternative Investments in Dubai. “There’s a little profit-taking. But we expect the recent rally to continue.”

Goldman Sachs Is in Final Stage of Study on DFM, ADX Merger, Bayan Reports - Bloomberg

Goldman Sachs Group Plc is in the final stages of completing a study to merge the Dubai Financial Market and the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, Al Bayan reported, without saying where it got the information.

Goldman Sachs will present its report to Emirates Investment Co., which is overseeing the merger, the newspaper said.

Abu Dhabi Ex-Im bank an idea whose time has come � ArabianMoney

Abu Dhabi is to establish a new agency to provide cheap credit for exports by the end of the year modelled on the US Export-Import Bank, the bank at the centre of controversy over subsidies to Gulf airlines for the financing of purchases of Boeing aircraft, according to The National today.

This new Abu Dhabi export promotion agency would provide financial support and advice to local companies planning to export goods and services. That might well include airlines like Etihad and Emirates looking to export their services to new destinations.

gulfnews : ADCB wraps up RBS deal

Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB) Saturday announced the legal transfer of the retail banking and small and medium enterprise (SME) business of RBS in the UAE to ADCB.

"The agreement was signed by ADCB and RBS on June 16, 2010, and the the Central Bank approval for the same was received about a month back. Meticulous planning and effective implementation enabled ADCB to complete several tasks that required to be completed prior to the legal cut-over in a record 100 days and the transition was seamless," ADCB said in a statement.

Andrew Farkas provides Dubai link with NY election

An important adviser to Dubai World during the property boom who left the UAE last year has emerged as a key figure in the New York State governor's race.

Andrew Farkas is finance chairman for Andrew Cuomo, the New York State attorney general who is running for governor. He was introduced to Dubai in 2002 by Sol and the late Butch Kerzner, the South African hotel magnates behind the Atlantis on the Palm Jumeirah.

In 2005, as the relationship developed, Mr Farkas brokered property deals in New York that led to the acquisition by Istithmar, Dubai World's private equity arm, of high-profile Manhattan properties including the W Hotel Union Square, 230 Park Avenue and the Mandarin Oriental hotel in Columbus Circle.

Associates to pay after al Braikan case settled

A US judge has ordered relatives of Hazem al Braikan and two Kuwaiti companies to pay about US$6.4 million (Dh23.5m) in restitution and fines to settle a stock market manipulation case that took a morbid turn after al Braikan died in an apparent suicide last year.

The settlement of the charges against al Braikan and the other Kuwaiti companies, which have said they merely acted at Mr al Braikan's behest, brings to a close a sad chapter in the frenetic financial history of the Gulf, where many markets are loosely regulated and talk of insider trading and rumour-mongering is rampant.

Judge Naomi Buchwald approved a settlement reached in August between the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and al Braikan's estate, Al Raya Investment Company and Kipco Asset Management Company (KAMCO). This month the judge cancelled a freeze placed on KAMCO's assets after it paid its share of the judgment, about $2.4m. Al Raya has paid $1.5m, but al Braikan's estate sought and received in August a two-month extension on payment of the $2.5m that was owed.