Wednesday 31 August 2011

Fitch affirms IPIC at 'AA'; Outlook Stable | Energy & Oil | Reuters

Fitch Ratings has affirmed the International Petroleum Investment Company PJSC (IPIC) of Abu Dhabi's Long-term local and foreign currency Issuer Default Ratings (IDR) at 'AA' and Short-term IDR at 'F1+'. IPIC GMTN Limited's foreign currency senior unsecured rating has also been affirmed at 'AA'. The Outlook for the Long-term IDRs is Stable, in line with the Outlook for the Emirate of Abu Dhabi ('AA'/Stable/'F1+').

IPIC's ratings are aligned with Abu Dhabi's sovereign ratings under Fitch's parent and subsidiary rating linkage methodology. Fitch considers IPIC to be a strategic asset to the government in its role as an investment vehicle for the state in the domestic and foreign hydrocarbon and petrochemical sectors.

Qatari Greek bank bailout looks like strategic bet - Emirates 24/7

Qatar's Greek bailout could pay strategic dividends too. The decision by one of the Gulf state's many investment vehicles to inject 500 million euros into newly formed lender EFG Eurobank, via a mandatory convertible bond, came as a surprise.

But the investment looks characteristically opportune, and Qatar's support for troubled banks in the euro zone may not end there.

Paramount is relatively unknown - simply described as representing the interests of Qatar's royal family. It looks like just another one of the many entities used by the country to channel its investments.

Oil and gas industries springing back to life - The National

Oil and gas contractors across the Emirates are adding thousands of jobs as producers demand safer and more advanced drilling platforms and restart stalled investment projects.

Lamprell, the UAE oil and gas engineering specialist, said it had a bid pipeline of almost US$5 billion (Dh18.36bn), refitting existing rigs and building new platforms with additional capabilities.

The company has increased its staff to 13,000 to cope, and it may add a further 1,000 by the end of the year.

Has Peak Oil Come To The Non-Opec World? Maybe. - Forbes

The world’s biggest oil companies put in a pretty pathetic performance in the second quarter of 2011. Not in terms of earnings — those were great, with Exxon posting $10.7 billion and Royal Dutch Shell doing $8 billion. Just what you’d expect with Brent crude at a lofty $120 a barrel.

Where the results were disappointing was in the barrels. Of the 16 big U.S. and European oil companies studied by Deutsche Bank analyst Paul Sankey, 14 of them saw their production of petroleum decline in the quarter. Collectively, the drop amounted to 12% of total liquids volumes, or 1.2 million bpd. Their average output for the quarter totalled, 14.67 million bpd. Even excluding the effect of Libya’s issues, the decline was 8%.

Only Exxon and Shell managed 1% volume gains in liquids.

Kerzner weighs Atlantis Dubai sale


Kerzner International Holdings Ltd., the owner of several luxury getaways, is exploring selling its 50% stake in the Atlantis resort in Dubai to raise money to restructure $2.6 billion in mortgage debt coming due next week, said people familiar with the matter.
The proceeds would go toward paying down a portion of the mortgage debt on a separate Atlantis resort in the Bahamas, Kerzner's flagship property and one of the most popular resorts in North America, the people said. The debt matures Sept. 9.
Kerzner is in talks to sell the stake in the Dubai Atlantis to Istithmar World, Dubai's investment arm, the people said. Istithmar already owns the other half of the Dubai resort as Kerzner's partner and largest shareholder. Some people familiar with the discussions said the sale, if consummated, could reap as much as $250 million to $350 million.

Dispute over control of $65bn Libya fund - FT.com

A dispute has erupted over control of Libya’s $65bn sovereign wealth fund, as the national transitional council attempts to maintain stability in the oil-rich nation.

Several NTC members have contested the authority of Mahmoud Badi, who is probing corruption at the Libyan Investment Authority.

Albudery Shariha, who was appointed senior director in the LIA’s legal department in July 2009, told the FT that Mohamed Layas would remain in charge of the fund. Mr Layas was chairman of the LIA before the revolution when it was controlled by Seif al-Islam, one of Colonel Muammer Gaddafi’s sons.

Do not count on EMs coming to the rescue in a double dip - FT.com

Will the emerging markets keep the global economy afloat if the developed world is hit by a double dip? Since the financial crisis, the shift in economic power from the developed to the developing world has been palpable. Such is the dynamism of the larger emerging market economies that many people appear to think that they could indeed come to the rescue. Yet this optimism is sadly misplaced.


That is not to say the dynamism is illusory. The story of the recovery from the recent recession is a remarkable one. While the developed world has been struggling to return to pre-crisis output levels, the International Monetary Fund estimated earlier this year that the output of developing Asia and Latin America was 7 per cent and 2 per cent above 1997-2006 trends respectively.


The emerging markets are expected to account for 38 per cent of global output by 2016 compared with just 25 per cent in 2007. We also know that the developing world’s productivity growth will outstrip the developed world beyond 2016 as high levels of public sector debt in the west crowd out private investment.


Islamic finance, women, sukuk, Shariah investing, ethical investing | alifarabia

If Islamic finance is about inclusion, where are the sisters?

Someone once said, ‘50% of the world’s population is women, and the other half, have mothers.’ Recently, two major articles were widely carried on women in Islamic finance, and highlighted the often heard issues: underrepresentation, interaction with male bankers, travel for meetings in conservative countries, from women scholars to women’s branches, and so on.

If Islamic finance (IF) is about inclusion, where are the sisters?