#Saudi mortgage provider SRC buys 'significant' portion of Arab National Bank's home finance portfolio | Property – Gulf News

Saudi mortgage provider SRC buys 'significant' portion of Arab National Bank's home finance portfolio | Property – Gulf News

The high-flying Saudi Real Estate Refinance Company, a wholly owned company of the Public Investment Fund (PIF), will purchase a significant portion of Arab National Bank’s housing finance portfolio and provide liquidity to the Bank. This, it is hoped, will provide greater homeownership opportunities for over two million of the bank’s customers.

The partnership is aimed at providing long-term liquidity in the housing financing market to boost the rate of Saudi homeownership to 70 per cent by 2030. The agreement with ANB is the latest among several partnerships with banks and real estate finance companies operating in the Kingdom. SRC aims to promote the growth and stability of the real estate finance market by facilitating the provision of more affordable home financing options for Saudi citizens.

The partnership agreement was signed by SRC’s CEO Fabrice Susini and Obaid Abdullah Al-Rasheed, Managing Director and CEO of ANB. Susini, CEO of SRC, said: “SRC will continue to cultivate partnerships to help realise the objectives of the housing programme, through facilitation of liquidity provision to originators and enabling affordability of home financing to Saudi families. Increasing the proportion of home ownership is in line with SRC’s goal of building a strong secondary market in the Kingdom.”

Oil Edges Up With OPEC+ Delaying Talks to Resolve Differences - Bloomberg

Oil Edges Up With OPEC+ Delaying Talks to Resolve Differences - Bloomberg

PRICES
West Texas Intermediate for August traded at $73.45 a barrel at 4:47 p.m. in after-market trading after settling at $72.98 a barrel in New York Brent for August settlement traded at $75.08 in after-market trading after ending the session at $74.76 a barrel The prompt timespread for Brent was 48 cents in backwardation, compared with 73 cents a week earlier

European, Middle Eastern & African Stocks - Bloomberg #UAE #Kuwait #Israel #SaudiArabia #Qatar close

European, Middle Eastern & African Stocks - Bloomberg #UAE #Kuwait #Israel #SaudiArabia #Qatar close

IPOs in Middle East Gain Momentum - Bloomberg video

IPOs in Middle East Gain Momentum - Bloomberg

Mohammed Ali Yasin, Chief Strategy Officer at Al Dhabi Capital discusses new listings on the Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia stock exchanges and their broader implications for the region. He speaks with Yousef Gamal El-Din on "Bloomberg Daybreak: Middle East." (Source: Bloomberg)

Oil Erases Earlier Loss as Market Swings Before OPEC+ This Week - Bloomberg

Oil Erases Earlier Loss as Market Swings Before OPEC+ This Week - Bloomberg

PRICES
West Texas Intermediate for August added 0.5% to $73.26 a barrel by 8:33 a.m. New York time Brent for August settlement was 0.4% higher at $75.01 The prompt timespread for Brent was 54 cents in backwardation, compared with 73 cents a week earlier

Ambani's Reliance Invests in #AbuDhabi Petrochemicals Hub - Bloomberg

Ambani's Reliance Invests in Abu Dhabi Petrochemicals Hub - Bloomberg

Reliance Industries Ltd. is set to invest in petrochemical facilities in Abu Dhabi, according to people familiar with the matter, as it strengthens energy ties with the Middle East.

The Indian conglomerate plans to join projects at Abu Dhabi National Oil Co.’s Ruwais refining hub, the people said. India’s Economic Times, which first reported the news, said the investment will amount to as much as $1.5 billion and may be announced as soon as Tuesday.

Adnoc, which pumps almost all the oil and gas in the United Arab Emirates, is hoping to attract around $5 billion into Ruwais under a program called Ta’ziz. The country is seeking to boost investments in higher-value petroleum products such as chemicals.

Reliance, the operator of the world’s biggest refining complex, and Adnoc signed a framework in 2019 to explore joint investments in petrochemicals.

The Indian company, led by Asia’s richest person Mukesh Ambani, is also in talks with Saudi Aramco about refining ventures. Ambani expects to finalize a deal this year that will see the Saudi firm invest billions of dollars in Reliance’s oil-to-chemicals projects. Aramco’s chairman, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, will join Reliance’s board, Ambani announced last week.

“His joining our board is also the beginning of internationalization of Reliance,” Ambani said. “You will hear more about our international plans in the times to come.”

Spokespeople for Reliance and Adnoc declined to comment.

#Dubai's Emaar Properties secures $500 million via Islamic bonds | Reuters

Dubai's Emaar Properties secures $500 million via Islamic bonds | Reuters

Emaar Properties (EMAR.DU), Dubai's largest listed property developer, sold $500 million in 10-year sukuk, or Islamic bonds, at 3.7% on Tuesday after they drew more than $3.3 billion in orders, a document showed.

The sukuk were tightened from an initial price guidance of around 4.25%, a document from one of the banks in the deal showed.

Dubai Islamic Bank (DISB.DU), Emirates NBD Capital (ENBD.DU), First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB.AD), Mashreqbank (MASB.DU) and Standard Chartered (STAN.L) arranged the deal.

Reuters reported early this month that Emaar had hired banks to arrange a dollar sukuk sale. read more

The builder of the world's tallest building, Dubai's Burj Khalifa, last issued international bonds in 2019, raising $500 million via sukuk.

S&P Global Ratings downgraded Emaar to a BB+ "junk" rating last July as the real estate and retail sectors were slammed by the COVID-19 pandemic and related restrictions.

Emaar, which is 29.22% owned by state fund Investment Corporation of Dubai, last month reported an 8% rise in first-quarter net profit to 657 million dirhams ($178.88 million), which founder Mohamed Alabbar said was "comparable" with pre-pandemic results in 2019.

The company and its subsidiaries have outstanding debt of about $816 million, Refinitiv data shows.

#Saudi Aramco seeks financing advisor for gas pipeline deal -sources | Reuters

Saudi Aramco seeks financing advisor for gas pipeline deal -sources | Reuters

Saudi Aramco (2222.SE) has invited banks to pitch for an advisory role to help finance the sale of a significant minority stake in its gas pipelines, the oil giant's second major midstream deal after a $12.4 billion deal for oil pipelines, three sources said.

Aramco has already hired Morgan Stanley (MS.N) as an M&A advisor and the financing advisory role is up for grabs among banks, two of the sources said.

The gas pipeline stake sale will be a "copy paste" of the oil pipeline deal, one of the sources said.

Aramco has used a lease and lease-back agreement to sell a 49% stake of newly formed Aramco Oil Pipelines Co to the buyer and rights to 25 years of tariff payments for oil carried on its pipelines.

#UAE's new AML /CFT guidelines on providing services for real estate, precious metals sectors | ZAWYA MENA Edition

UAE's new AML /CFT guidelines on providing services for real estate, precious metals sectors | ZAWYA MENA Edition

The Central Bank of UAE has issued new guidance on anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) for licensed financial institutions (LFI) providing services to the real estate sector, and dealers of precious metals and stones (DPMS).

For all customer dealings, LFIs are required to perform appropriate customer due diligence and report any behaviour that they reasonably suspect may be linked to money laundering, financing of terrorism or a criminal offence by submitting suspicious activity reports directly to the UAE’s Financial Intelligence Unit using the “goAML” portal.

LFIs providing services to real estate and precious metals and stones sectors specifically should assess the associated money laundering and terrorist financing risks and develop an effective AML/CFT programme that encompasses a competent compliance officer and provides training for LFIs’ employees on said risks.

Khaled Mohamed Balama, Governor of the CBUAE, said: “This Guidance serves as a key point of reference for those providing services to real estate and precious metals and stones sectors and is set to further increase the efficacy of licensed financial institutions in contributing to the stringent national efforts in the field of AML/CFT.”

JPMorgan sets up legal entity in #AbuDhabi's ADGM | Reuters

JPMorgan sets up legal entity in Abu Dhabi's ADGM | Reuters

JPMorgan (JPM.N) has set up a new legal entity in Abu Dhabi's financial centre ADGM, it said in a statement on Tuesday.

The bank has been physically present in the emirate for 10 years through a representative office, but has now established a new legal entity, called J.P. Morgan Middle East, licenced by the Abu Dhabi Global Markets Financial Services Regulatory Authority.

This will "enable the firm to provide a more complete suite of J.P. Morgan products and services to clients in Abu Dhabi," the U.S. bank said.

European, Middle Eastern & African Stocks - Bloomberg #UAE #Kuwait #Israel #SaudiArabia #Qatar mid-session

European, Middle Eastern & African Stocks - Bloomberg #UAE #Kuwait #Israel #SaudiArabia #Qatar mid-session

Oil drops as COVID-19 surges threaten fuel demand outlook | Reuters

Oil drops as COVID-19 surges threaten fuel demand outlook | Reuters

Oil prices dropped for a second day on Tuesday on worries about slower fuel demand growth as outbreaks of the highly contagious Delta variant of coronavirus sparked new mobility restrictions around the world.

Brent crude futures fell 67 cents, or 0.9%, to $74.01 a barrel by 0901 GMT, after slumping 2% on Monday.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures fell 83 cents, or 1.1%, to $72.08 a barrel, extending a 1.5% loss on Monday.

Despite the virus flare-up, the market still broadly expects vaccine rollouts to brighten the demand outlook, analysts said.

"The narrative of the past few months has not changed: the war against the virus is being gradually won, the global economy and oil demand are recovering," said PVM Oil analyst Tamas Varga.