FT Alphaville » Glenstrata extends

So much for D-Day in the unending saga of the Glencore-Xstrata tie-up.

Hot off the RNS feed on Friday:

Extension to merger timetable
Zug, 21 September 2012
Glencore International plc (“Glencore”) and Xstrata plc (“Xstrata”) today jointly requested an extension from the Takeover Panel (the “Panel”) to the deadline by which the independent non-executive Xstrata directors will announce their response to Glencore’s revised merger proposal.
The extension was requested to enable Xstrata’s independent non-executive directors to take full account of feedback from consultation with key Xstrata shareholders.
An extension has been granted by the Panel and the independent non-executive Xstrata directors will announce their response by 07h00 London time on Monday 1 October 2012.
End

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Saudi CMA gets tough on service providers - MENA Fund Manager

The Capital Market Authority of Saudi Arabia has issued a strongly-worded directive warning institutions against conducting unlicensed securities businesses in the Kingdom, sparking concern of a crackdown on non-Saudi investment activity.

In a series of full page ads, printed across the Mena region, the regulator “called upon investors in securities to limit their dealings to CMA authorised persons only and not to deal with persons who are not authorised by the CMA to conduct securities business - whether they are individuals or institutions”.

The scale and tone of the announcement has fuelled speculation that Saudi Arabia is no closer to opening up more fully to foreign investors, despite years of rumours.

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Blackrock ETF offers UAE exposure - MENA Fund Manager

BlackRock has launched a new exchange-traded fund, which will invest in frontier markets including the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

BlackRock's iShares MSCI Frontier 100 Index Fund will focus on frontier market securities that are screened for liquidity and track the MSCI Frontier Markets 100 Index, according to a company statement.

Currently the index includes markets such as the UAE, Croatia, Argentina, Nigeria and Vietnam and is one of only four other frontier markets ETFs available in the US.

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Iran Investment Monthly courtesy #TurquoisePartners

Market Overview
The downward movement of the Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE) continued at a slower pace in
comparison to last month. After the widespread stock price declines of the past three months,
which pushed the market average P/E to below 5, investors began to buy back some over-sold
stocks. This helped the TSE market to stabilize to some extent. Two major IPO’s took place that
absorbed over $375 million of liquidity from the market.

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FT Alphaville » Property porn, as it’s known in the trade

A chart from Jones Lang LaSalle about who’s investing in London property:

It features in this video by the FT’s John Authers, which also contains a comparison of prices in London and where we’d rather be given that it was never summer here Miami:

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Brent crude climbs towards $111 on North Sea, Libya worries - Yahoo! News Maktoob

Brent crude rose towards $111 on Friday as concerns about Libya's precarious security situation and lower production in the North Sea triggered worries about supply.
OPEC member and Africa's third biggest producer Libya swiftly ramped up oil output after last year's revolution, but an assault last week on the U.S. consulate heightened fears about the new government's ability to impose its authority, and this is likely to delay the already-slow return of expatriate oil workers to the country.

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Maersk, Qatar in talks to extend al-Shaheen oilfield contract: sources | Reuters

Denmark's Maersk Oil is in talks with Qatar Petroleum to extend a production sharing contract for the offshore al-Shaheen oilfield by another 13 years to 2030, industry sources said on Friday.

Crude production at the field could rise to 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) in 2017 from the current 300,000 bpd, one source said, with new equipment such as a floating storage and offloading unit (FSO) possibly being installed if the contract is extended.

"We believe there is potential for additional development of the field, and we are evaluating this potential together with our partner Qatar Petroleum," Maersk Oil spokesman Paul Taylor said in an email, though he declined to comment further on the talks.

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