First Abu Dhabi Bank Explored Offer for Standard Chartered - Bloomberg
First Abu Dhabi Bank PJSC said it explored a potential bid for Standard Chartered Plc, in what would have been a complex deal aimed at building an emerging markets lender with more than $1 trillion of assets.
The Middle East’s largest bank was previously in the “very early stages of evaluating a possible offer for Standard Chartered” but is no longer doing so, it said in a regulatory filing Thursday. Bloomberg News reported earlier that FAB had been assessing Standard Chartered for more than six months as it considered a potential bid for the London-based lender.
The Abu Dhabi bank had been considering a full takeover of Standard Chartered, according to people familiar with the matter. FAB, as the firm is known, had been working with advisers though no formal approach had been made, the people said, declining to be identified as the deliberations are private.
The Gulf lender was also considering other deal structures, such as an acquisition of parts of the UK-based firm, one of the people said. Any deal faced significant hurdles given the complexity of the transaction, they said. A representative for Standard Chartered declined to comment.
Dubai's Emirates NBD launches 1 bln dirham 3-year bond | Reuters
Emirates NBD, Dubai's biggest lender, launched a AED 1 billion dirham ($272 million) three-year bond on Thursday, according to a document seen by Reuters.
The senior, unsecured bond received more than 1.65 billion dirhams in orders and was launched at 5.125%. It is expected to price at par later in the day.
Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB.AD), Emirates NBD Capital, HSBC and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Limited (ICBC) were joint lead managers and joint bookrunners for the local-currency issue.
Most major Gulf stock markets fall on hawkish Fed, Egypt extends rally | Reuters
Most major Gulf stocks ended lower on Thursday after a hawkish message from minutes of the U.S. Federal Reserve's last meeting, while the Saudi bourse reversed early losses to close flat and the Egyptian index extended gains to a sixth day.
Minutes of the Fed's December meeting released overnight showed while officials agreed that the central bank should slow the pace of interest rate increases, they remained focused on curbing inflation.
Meanwhile, top oil exporter Saudi Arabia lowered the February official selling prices (OSPs) for the flagship Arab light crude it sells to Asia to plus $1.80 a barrel versus the Oman/Dubai average, a source with knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Thursday.
The price is $1.45 a barrel less than the January OSP.
Saudi Arabia's benchmark stock index (.TASI) closed flat, as losses in energy and financial shares were capped by gains in real estate stocks.
Index heavyweight Saudi Aramco gained nearly 1%.
In Abu Dhabi, the benchmark index (.FTFADGI) declined 0.3%, as the country's largest lender First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB.AD) eased 0.6% while fertiliser maker Fertiglobe (FERTIGLOBE.AD) tumbled 2.4%.
Alpha Dhabi (ALPHADHABI.AD) and Abu Dhabi state fund Mubadala Investment plan to deploy up to 9 billion dirhams ($2.45 billion) in credit markets through a new joint venture, the companies said. Alpha Dhabi was down 0.6%.
Elsewhere, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) said on Thursday it would allocate $15 billion to decarbonisation projects by 2030.
Dubai's main share index (.DFMGI) fell 0.4%, led by losses in real estate and financial stocks, as blue-chip developer Emaar Properties (EMAR.DU) lost 1.4% and lender Emirates NBD (ENBD.DU) was down 0.4%.
The benchmark stock index in Qatar (.QSI) jumped 2.8% to close the week with a gain of 4.3%.
Outside the Gulf, Egypt's blue-chip index (.EGX30) closed 2.9% higher, touching its highest level since August 2018, with Commercial International Bank Egypt (COMI.CA) jumping 2.5%.
AbuDhabi's Mubadala, Alpha Dhabi to enter credit markets via new venture | Reuters
Abu Dhabi state fund Mubadala Investment Co and UAE-based conglomerate Alpha Dhabi (ALPHADHABI.AD) plan to deploy up to 9 billion dirhams ($2.5 billion) in credit markets through a new joint venture, the companies said on Thursday.
The two companies plan to leverage on Mubadala's relationship with U.S. asset manager Apollo (APO.N) "to access high-quality private credit investment opportunities", they said in a joint statement with Apollo.
Mubadala will own 80% of the venture, which will be based in Abu Dhabi Global Market, the emirate's financial freezone. The remaining 20% will be held by Alpha Dhabi, the statement said.
Most Gulf markets fall on economic downturn concerns; Qatar up | Reuters
Most major Gulf stock markets fell on Thursday, weighed down by concerns over an economic downturn and volatile oil prices, and hawkish U.S. Federal Reserve minutes.
Oil prices fell sharply overnight on worries that the near-term outlook looks precarious in China and that a global slowdown will hurt fuel demand. Brent crude futures were last up $1 at $78.84 per barrel.
Minutes of the Fed's December meeting released overnight showed while officials agreed that the central bank should slow the pace of interest rate increases, they remained focused on curbing inflation.
Top oil exporter Saudi Arabia may further cut the prices for its flagship Arab Light crude grade to Asia in February, after they were set at a 10-month low this month, as concerns of oversupply continued to cloud the market.
Saudi Arabia's benchmark stock index (.TASI) fell 0.5%, dragged down by a 0.5% decline in state oil giant and index heavyweight Saudi Aramco (2222.SE).
Aramco may cut the official selling price for the medium sour grade by about $1.50 a barrel in February, dragging the February Arab Light price to a level last seen in November 2021.
In Abu Dhabi, the benchmark index (.FTFADGI) edged down 0.1%, led by a 0.4% slide in conglomerate International Holding Company (IHC.AD) and a 0.1% fall in Alpha Dhabi (ALPHADHABI.AD).
Abu Dhabi state fund Mubadala Investment Co and Alpha Dhabi (ALPHADHABI.AD) plan to deploy up to 9 billion dirhams ($2.45 billion) in credit markets through a new joint venture, the companies said.
Dubai's main share index (.DFMGI) declined 0.1%, pressured by losses in financial and real estate stocks. Emirates NBD Bank (ENBD.DU), Dubai's largest lender, lost 0.8%, while blue-chip developer Emaar Properties (EMAR.DU) was down 0.9%.
The benchmark stock index (.QSI) in Qatar climbed 1.8%, with almost all constituent stocks trading in positive territory. Qatar Islamic Bank (QISB.QA) surged 4.6% and Qatar National Bank (QNBK.QA), the Gulf's largest lender, climbed 3.6%.
