Dubai Office Real Estate Market Defies Global Slump, Tecom Says - Bloomberg
Dubai continues to defy a slump in the commercial real estate market that’s battered occupancy rates and rental yields around the world.
“There’s strong demand for the central business district, which reveals that customers prefer high-quality offices in a prime location,” Abdulla Belhoul, chief executive officer of Tecom Group, whose tenants include Meta Platforms Inc. and Alphabet Inc., told reporters. On Wednesday, the company reported a 6% increase in revenue.
“We also continue to see strong interest from multinational companies looking to expand their footprint in Dubai and the region,” he said.
The company said second-quarter revenue rose to 535.1 million dirhams ($146 million). It added more than 1,500 new tenants in the first half of the year, and occupancy rates stood at 87%, according to a regulatory filing.
Dubai’s RTA Picks Banks Including Emirates NBD for Taxi and Parking IPOs - Bloomberg
Dubai’s Roads & Transport Authority has selected Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc., and Emirates NBD Capital to work on the planned initial public offering of the city’s taxi business, in what would be the emirate’s first privatization of the year.
The transport regulator has separately appointed Emirates NBD, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and HSBC Holdings Plc to work on the listing of its parking division, according to people familiar with matter, who asked not to be identified as the information isn’t public.
The government plans to sell shares in the taxi business as soon as this year, while the parking unit’s listing is slated to follow next year, Bloomberg News reported last month.
More banks may be added to the syndicates at a later stage, the people said. Representatives for BofA, ENBD, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and HSBC declined to comment. The RTA didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
The transport authority is exploring options to monetize more of its assets after Dubai’s government, its owner, raised $1 billion from an IPO of the city’s road-toll operator, Salik Co., in 2022. That deal drew $50 billion in orders and Salik shares have risen about 57% from their offer price, outperforming Dubai’s other state listings from last year.
Salik’s listing was part of Dubai’s drive to raise trading volumes in the city’s stock market by selling stakes in 10 state-owned companies. The emirate listed four assets last year and raised about $8 billion, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
Saudi bourse extends losses on profit taking; Qatar falls | Reuters
Saudi Arabia's stock market extended its losses on Wednesday as profit-taking continued after it hit nine-month high last week, while the Qatar bourse snapped a 15-day winning streak.
Saudi Arabia's benchmark index (.TASI) fell for a fifth session to close 1.4% lower, with Al Rajhi Bank (1120.SE) losing 2.6%, while Saudi National Bank (1180.SE) retreated 2.6% as the top lender traded ex-dividend.
Among other losers, Saudi Airlines Catering (6004.SE) plunged 8%, to become the top loser on the Saudi index, after the firm missed quarterly profit estimates.
The Saudi stock market continued to see profit-taking while mixed company earnings could continue to affect sentiment, Daniel Takieddine, CEO MENA at BDSwiss, said.
"While increasing oil prices could improve sentiment, production cuts could become a source of concern," he said
The Qatari benchmark (.QSI) dropped 1.1%, snapping a 15-day winning streak, as most of the stocks on the index were in negative territory including Qatar Islamic Bank (QISB.QA), which was down 1.7%.
In Abu Dhabi, the index (.FTFADGI) gained 0.5%, with Q Holding (QHOLDING.AD) soaring about 15%, hitting a five-month high, after receiving an offer from ADQ and IHC capital to combine their holdings in Modon Properties into Q Holding.
The Abu Dhabi bourse maintained its positive trend, helped by the strength in oil markets as well as the solid local fundamentals, Takieddine said.
Oil prices - a key catalyst for the Gulf's financial markets - surged, trading near their highest levels since April, buoyed by crude and fuel product inventory data showing robust U.S. demand.
Dubai's main share index (.DFMGI) finished 0.2% higher, trading at eight year high, helped by a 0.6% gain in blue-chip developer Emaar Properties (EMAR.DU).
Outside the Gulf, Egypt's blue-chip index (.EGX30) eased 0.3%, extending losses from the previous session.
Egypt's net foreign assets (NFAs) fell further into deficit in June, with the gap widening by 82.1 billion Egyptian pounds ($2.66 billion) from the previous month to negative 837.3 billion pounds, according to central bank data.
Dubai Skyscraper ICD Brookfield Place Gets Interest From China's CIC, Saudi Fund - Bloomberg
China Investment Corp., Malaysia’s KLCC Property Holdings Bhd. and Saudi Arabia’s Hassana are among potential bidders for a stake in an office tower in the heart of Dubai’s financial district, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
Its owners, Brookfield Asset Management and state-owned Investment Corp. of Dubai, may sell a stake of as much as 49% in ICD Brookfield Place, whose tenants include JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Bank of America Corp. the people said, asking not to be identified because the talks are private.
The joint venture has received interest from more than a dozen entities globally, including sovereign wealth and pension funds, the people said. At least one candidate showed interested in buying the whole tower, two of the people said.
The companies are working with Emirates NBD Capital and JPMorgan on the sale, Bloomberg has previously reported.
UAE's e& offers to increase stake in Vodafone by 20% - e& CEO to CNBC Arabia | Reuters
UAE's e& (EAND.AD) has submitted an offer to increase its stake in Vodafone (VOD.L) by 20%, e&'s CEO Hatem Dowidar told CNBC Arabia on Wednesday.
The company formerly known as Etisalat, e& has been gradually building up its stake in the British telecoms company ever since it took a 9.8% stake for $4.4 billion in May 2022.
Its ownership as of April stood at 14.61%, according to an SEC filing.
The UAE operator's cooperation with Vodafone is awaiting regulatory approvals in countries where the British company operates, which "include an agreement to regulate relations between the two companies, and also the possibility of increasing our stake to 20%," Dowidar said.
"We are hopeful to get these approvals in the next 3 or 4 months."
Dubai's TECOM posts 13% H1 profit rise on commercial property boom | Reuters
Dubai business park operator TECOM Group (TECOM.DU) reported a 13% increase in first half profit on Wednesday as its CEO said demand for commercial property was outstripping supply in one of the world's fastest growing cities.
Net profit rose to 485 million dirhams in the first half, TECOM said in a regulatory filing, driven by high occupancy rates and new customers.
Commercial property in many developed cities has struggled to recover from the impact of the pandemic, but Dubai, home to the world's tallest skyscraper, has benefited. It largely stayed open during lockdowns and drew in new business that could no longer operate elsewhere.
The occupancy level for commercial and industrial assets was 87% as of June 30, a 5% increase from a year ago.
"Dubai's commercial real estate market is performing exceptionally, especially when compared to other major cities," Abdulla Belhoul, chief executive at TECOM Group told an earnings call with reporters.
"Demand is still surpassing the supply," Belhoul said.
Net profit for the second quarter eased to 229.4 million dirhams from 237.3 million a year earlier. Tecom said profit for the period rose 19% to 283 million dirhams, when the impact of a one-off expense related to settling an old loan facility was excluded.
The company said in June that it refinanced an existing loan on more favourable terms. The five-year, 7.6 billion dirham unsecured loan facility replaced an existing partially utilised term loan.
Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Invests in US-based Aligned Data Centers - Bloomberg
Mubadala Investment Co. invested in a US-based data center that’s majority managed by Macquarie Asset Management, building up the Abu Dhabi wealth fund’s presence in digital infrastructure.
The $276 billion fund will become a minority partner in Aligned Data Centers, it said Wednesday, without disclosing financial details.
Aligned, which offers both scale data centers and build-to-scale infrastructure solutions, will have more than 2.5 gigawatts of capacity across more than 40 data centers at full buildout, making it among the largest private data center operators in the Americas.
Mubadala has been rapidly expanding its global digital infrastructure portfolio. In May, it committed $500 million to Brightspeed, a US-based broadband and telecom services firm, and last year invested $350 million in Asian data-center operator Princeton Digital Group. It has also invested £800 million into CityFibre in the UK.
Data center companies have been attracting strong investor interest, partly due to a perception of stable returns and expectations of ongoing growth as people increasingly rely on technology.
Abu Dhabi Consolidates Real Estate Assets Under $12 Billion UAE Firm - Bloomberg
Abu Dhabi is consolidating key real estate assets under one entity, creating a $12 billion property giant to help bolster the emirate’s economic transformation efforts.
As part of the deal, sovereign wealth fund ADQ and the emirate’s most valuable listed firm, International Holding Co., will combine their shareholdings in Modon Properties as well as ADQ’s stake in Abu Dhabi National Exhibitions Co. into real estate firm Q Holding.
Q Holding will issue instruments convertible into 9.49 billion shares to ADQ and IHC at a fixed price of 2.70 dirhams per share, valuing the company at 18.5 billion dirhams ($5.04 billion), the firms said.
The new combined group will have an implied market value of about $12 billion, making it one of the largest such entities in the region. The firm will have a portfolio of real estate developments, venues, land plots and hospitality assets.
ADQ and IHC have been at the forefront of a drive to diversify the economy of the United Arab Emirates away from oil. Wednesday’s offer is an opportunity to create an “Abu Dhabi champion that fuels its ambitions,” ADQ Chief Executive Officer Mohamed Alsuwaidi said in a statement.
Shares in Q Holding, which counts IHC and its unit Alpha Dhabi as its biggest investors, jumped 15% to 2.97 dirhams on Wednesday. Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the United Arab Emirates’s national security adviser, oversees both IHC and ADQ.
Following completion, ADQ will own 38.7% of Q Holding, while IHC Capital will hold a 19.4% stake.
Saudi bourse extends losses; Dubai at 8-year high | Reuters
Saudi Arabia's stock market extended losses on Wednesday as profit booking continued after the index hit a nine-month high last week, while the Dubai bourse traded at an eight-year high.
Saudi Arabia's benchmark index (.TASI) dropped 0.8%, on track to extend losses for a fourth session, weighed down by a 1.5% fall in Al Rajhi Bank (1120.SE).
Among other losers, Saudi National Bank (1180.SE) retreated 1.9%, as the kingdom's biggest lender traded ex-dividend.
Dubai's main share index (.DFMGI) rose 0.2%, with blue-chip developer Emaar Properties (EMAR.DU) advancing 1.1%.
In Qatar, the index (.QSI) fell 0.8%, on course to snap a 15-day winning streak, as most of the stocks on the index were in negative territory including Qatar National Bank (QNBK.QA), which was down 0.6%.
The Abu Dhabi index (.FTFADGI) added 0.3%, with Emirates Telecommunications Group Company e& (EAND.AD) rising 0.6% after reporting an increase in second-quarter profit.
Also, Czech PPF Group said on Tuesday that e& would pay 2.2 billion euros up front to acquire a controlling stake in its telecoms assets in Bulgaria, Hungary, Serbia and Slovakia.
Oil prices - a key catalyst for the Gulf's financial markets - surged by almost 1%, trading near their highest since April, as crude and fuel product inventory data showing robust demand from the world's biggest fuel consumer, the United States, offsetting demand concerns elsewhere.
