Friday 26 November 2010

Qatar Govt. Fund Values Areva at EU8 Billion, Challenges Says - BusinessWeek

The Qatar Investment Authority values French nuclear reactor builder Areva at 8 billion euros, Challenges magazine said, citing a person familiar with the talks.

The valuation is below the French government’s estimate of 12 billion euros to 14 billion euros and may jeopardize Areva’s planned capital increase, the magazine said.

Separately, it said Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. and the Kuwait sovereign fund would limit their offers to 300 million euros for a 3 percent stake and 500 million euros for a 5 percent holding respectively.

Ryanair, Emirates Say Export-Credit Revamp Mustn’t Affect Costs - BusinessWeek

Ryanair Holdings Plc, Emirates and eight other airlines said they’ll support the extension of export-credit support to carriers barred from receiving it provided the guarantees aren’t curbed or made more costly.

The airlines, which include Korean Air Lines Co. and Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways, said in a statement there must be no increase in fees, no limit on the amount of credit extended to any one airline and no reduction in the proportion of the cost of an aircraft that can be financed.

Airlines from Airbus SAS’s home countries of France, Germany, Britain and Spain and from the U.S., where Boeing Co. is based, are currently excluded from receiving export credit to help fund plane purchases. Paris-based Air France-KLM Group Plc is among barred companies that say the distinction gives an unfair advantage to carriers including Dubai-based Emirates.

Dubai Properties says not undergoing restructuring - bi-me

Dubai Properties, a unit of troubled conglomerate Dubai Holding, said on Thursday it was not entering a restructuring after one of its partners had suggested that the builder may embark on one.

"Dubai Properties Group (DPG) is not restructuring. DPG honours all of its commitments. We continue to maintain a good relationship with all our partners, including Arabtec," the company said in a statement sent to Reuters. Its comment came after remarks by Tom Barry, chief executive of Dubai-based builder Arabtec , who said on Wednesday Dubai Properties may enter restructuring.

Barry clarified on Thursday his remarks "were with particular regard to payments which are, or about to become, due to Arabtec".

Total Said to Be Ready to Replace Exxon in Qatari Petrochems - Bloomberg

Total SA has designs ready for a new petrochemical project in Qatar if a $6 billion project announced by Exxon Mobil Corp. early this year is canceled, two people with knowledge of the matter said.

Total’s plans have existed since 2006, said one of the people, who declined to be named because the matter is confidential. The company is in talks to build a mixed-feed petrochemical cracker that will probably be located in the energy center of Ras Laffan, the other person said.

Qatar is using its natural gas reserves, the world’s third largest, to run petrochemical, aluminum and fertilizer plants as it diversifies its economy away from liquefied natural gas and oil exports. The country aims to raise its annual production of petrochemicals to 28 million metric tons by 2014, Energy Minister Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah said in May.

Dubai Holding Unit Pushes for Bigger Debt Deal - WSJ.com

Dubai International Capital, the investment arm of Dubai Holding, is seeking to restructure as much as $2.6 billion worth of debt by Nov. 30, twice as much as the amount that matures next week, people familiar with the situation said.

The push for the larger amount comes after the emirate reached a deal with creditors in October for about $25 billion of outstanding debt owed by the government's other flagship conglomerate, Dubai World. Dubai World shocked investors a year ago Thursday when it announced that it would delay debt payments.

The Dubai World deal buoyed sentiment in the city-state, one of seven semi-autonomous emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates. Dubai's oil-rich neighbor, Abu Dhabi, the capital of the U.A.E., has provided billions of dollars of aid to Dubai after its property-market bubble burst, reinforcing among investors a sense of underlying government support for Dubai and its corporate entities.

Debt Clouds Recovery in Dubai - WSJ.com

A year after Dubai's debt crisis first roiled global financial markets, glimmers of confidence are returning to the city-state that became synonymous with skyscrapers and a man-made archipelago. But the threat of more debt-restructuring pain remains a dark cloud over the emirate, investors and officials say.

Dubai World, one of the government's flagship conglomerates, shocked the financial community a year ago when it announced it would ask creditors to delay repayments on its $23.8 billion debt pile, leading investor confidence in the emirate to plummet.

The conglomerate, like other Dubai government-owned groups, built up debts during years of frenzied spending that included some of the world's most extravagant real-estate projects developed by its Nakheel unit—seen to be at the center of Dubai's financial problems—and on the purchase of international properties by investment arm Istithmar World as prices peaked.

A year later, debt concerns linger for Dubai Emerging Markets Report - MarketWatch

A year later, Dubai’s debt crisis is no longer in the global spotlight. It was this time last November that Dubai World, the far-reaching conglomerate whose shareholder is the emirate’s government, startled global markets by delaying payments on its debt.

Dubai, until then known for its outsized ambition and mammoth construction projects such as artificial islands and sky-high hotels, started evoking other, less kind epithets.

Today, the market focus has shifted to the euro zone’s debt woes, even as Dubai continues to face serious challenges. Read related story on fears that Portugal or Spain will follow Ireland’s path toward bailout.