#Qatar Investment Authority joins consortium to take HK-listed ESR Group private | Reuters

Qatar Investment Authority joins consortium to take HK-listed ESR Group private | Reuters

Hong Kong-listed real estate fund manager ESR Group (1821.HK), opens new tab said on Friday Qatar Holding has joined a consortium of investors proposing to take the company private under an updated non-binding proposal.

Qatar Holding, which is owned by the sovereign wealth fund Qatar Investment Authority, is also a shareholder in ESR.

ESR's top shareholder Warburg Pincus and the company's founders have also become members of the consortium, ESR said in a statement.

The company did not disclose the financial details of the updated proposal.

Under the new proposal, shareholders can choose to receive a cash consideration, roll their shares into the future private company, or a combination of both.

The company received an initial proposal, aiming to take the company private, from a consortium led by Starwood Capital Group, Sixth Street Partners and SSW Partners on April 25.

ESR is considering the new proposal and the discussions with the consortium are ongoing.

#UAE's Modon appointed main developer of Egypt's Ras El Hekma city project | Reuters

UAE's Modon appointed main developer of Egypt's Ras El Hekma city project | Reuters

Abu Dhabi-based sovereign fund ADQ has appointed the UAE's Modon Holding PSC (MODON.AD), opens new tab as the master developer of a vast project to develop a city at Ras El Hekma on Egypt's north coast, Modon said in a statement on Friday.

Modon is an Abu-Dhabi developer in which ADQ and Abu Dhabi's IHC are majority shareholders.

The Ras El Hekma deal was announced in February with $35 billion in short-term investments, including $24 billion for the land rights to the undeveloped site on the Mediterranean coast.

It provided a crucial injection of funds for Egypt, which had been struggling with chronic foreign currency shortages exacerbated by the loss of Suez Canal revenue due to attacks on Red Sea shipping by Yemen's Houthis.

Modon said it had signed a framework agreement with Egypt's Orascom Construction (OC.DI), opens new tab, designating them as one of the primary contractors for the initial construction phase of the project.

It also announced a series of memoranda of understanding for potential partnerships on the mega-project, including with Egypt's Elsewedy Electric, Abu Dhabi Airports and Abu Dhabi energy company TAQA.

There was no mention in the statement of Egypt's Talaat Moustafa Group (TMG), which had previously said it would be involved in the development of Ras El Hekma.

Ras El Hekma lies 200 km (124 miles) west of Alexandria near an area of glitzy summer resorts and white sand beaches popular with wealthy Egyptians.

ADQ has previously said work to build a "next generation city" over 170 square kilometres - nearly a fifth of the size of Abu Dhabi city - would begin next year.

#AbuDhabi index extends losses to seventh session, #Dubai closes higher | Reuters

Abu Dhabi index extends losses to seventh session, Dubai closes higher | Reuters

Abu Dhabi's index closed down on Friday, extending losses into a seventh session amid tensions between Israel and Iran which could lead to a wider regional conflict, while Commercial Bank of Dubai helped Dubai's index break its five-day losing streak.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Friday that Iran and its regional allies would not back down, after an Israeli attack on Beirut that is thought to have targeted the heir apparent to Tehran-backed Hezbollah's slain leader.

Abu Dhabi's benchmark index (.FTFADGI), opens new tab slipped 0.4%, pressured by a decline in IHC-owned companies as Conglomerate Alpha Dhabi Holding (ALPHADHABI.AD), opens new tab and investment firm Multiply Group (MULTIPLY.AD), opens new tab declined 3.5% and 2.6% respectively.

However, UAE's largest utility firm Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (TAQA.AD), opens new tab rose 1.8% after the firm raised $1.75 billion from a two-part bond sale with maturities of 7 and 12 years, fixed income news service IFR reported.

Dubai's main index (.DFMGI), opens new tab settled 0.2% higher with top lender Emirates NBD Bank (ENBD.DU), opens new tab climbing 1.3% and state-run Dubai Electricity And Water Authority (DEWAA.DU), opens new tab hiking 0.8%.

Among the gainers, Commercial Bank of Dubai (CBD.DU), opens new tab surged 4.6% after the lender pocketed $500 million from a 5-year bond sale on Thursday.

For the week, however, Dubai's index snapped its seven-week winning streak to record a 2.6% loss, while the Abu Dhabi index declined 3.1% on a weekly basis, according to LSEG data.

Oil prices, a key catalyst for the Gulf's financial markets, advanced on Friday as investors weighed the prospect of a wider Middle East conflict disrupting crude flows against a well-supplied global market.

Brent crude was up 1.4% to $78.72 a barrel by 1135 GMT.