Saturday 9 December 2017

Exclusive: GFH hatches plans to develop ‘one of the largest land banks in the region’ - The National

Exclusive: GFH hatches plans to develop ‘one of the largest land banks in the region’ - The National:

"GFH Financial Group, the Bahrain-based sharia-compliant investment house, is drawing up a development strategy for a 25 million square metre land bank with a US$1.2 billion value, across the GCC, India and Africa that it acquired in August, its chief executive said.

“We are currently negotiating with several parties and hope that over the coming 12 to 18 months we will be able to decide the direction we wish to take and choose the right partner for it within this period,” Hesham Al Reyes, chief executive of GFH said in an interview with The National at his office in Bahrain. “This is one of the key land banks in the region, and we are exploring plans to list it, or make strategic partnerships with international parties to have access to those lands.”

An appropriate partner, or partners, would be a “real estate developer that needs attractive valuations on land banks to be able to gain strong entry into key markets,” Mr Al Reyes said. The talks at present are with international companies, he added, but GCC developers with plans to expand outside the region may also be interested."



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Russia looks to overtake Qatar with $27bn LNG project | Arab News

Russia looks to overtake Qatar with $27bn LNG project | Arab News:

"President Vladimir Putin on Friday launched a $27 billion liquefied natural gas plant in the Siberian Arctic as Russia hopes to surpass Qatar to become the world’s biggest exporter of the chilled fuel. “This is a large-scale project for Russia,” Putin said at the official ceremony in the port of Sabetta on the Yamal peninsula beyond the Arctic Circle. The centerpiece of the event was the loading of the first gas shipment onto an icebreaking tanker from the Yamal LNG plant, with temperatures of minus 28 degrees Celsius outside."



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How to Launder $1 Billion of Iranian Oil - Bloomberg

How to Launder $1 Billion of Iranian Oil - Bloomberg:

"Not long ago, Zarrab’s life might have fit the description of a James Bond villain’s—he glided around Istanbul with his pop-star wife in Aston Martins and Range Rovers, flew on private planes, and sported around the Aegean with his own jetpack and submarine. He liked to carry a gold-plated pistol and kept an office at Trump Towers Istanbul. That all came to an end in March 2016, when Zarrab was arrested by FBI agents as he arrived in Miami for a vacation at Disney World. Over the next 18 months, Zarrab, 34, was the chief defendant in a prosecution accusing him and others of a conspiracy to launder almost $1 billion through banks in the U.S. to help Iran evade sanctions over its nuclear program.
Zarrab hired a team of 16 lawyers from some of the most elite U.S. law firms. After the 2016 presidential election, he enlisted two Donald Trump confidants, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and ex-U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey, who tried to cut a deal for his release, including a prisoner swap. But those efforts failed. Then in September, Zarrab vanished."



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Abu Dhabi's ADNOC Distribution fuel firm IPO raises $851mln | ZAWYA MENA Edition

Abu Dhabi's ADNOC Distribution fuel firm IPO raises $851mln | ZAWYA MENA Edition:

"The fuel distribution unit of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company priced its initial public offering (IPO) at the mid-point of a revised indicative range, valuing the deal at 3.1 billion dirhams ($851 million), the company said on Friday. ADNOC Distribution IPO priced each share at 2.50 dirhams, it said in a statement, compared with a revised indicative range of 2.35-2.65 dirhams set last week. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N1O62W7 The company sold 1.25 billion shares, or 10 percent of its share capital. The stock will be listed and traded on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) on Dec. 13. Based on the offer price, the market capitalisation will be 31.3 billion dirhams. "



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