GCC News Roundup – April 27, 2009
News & Views General
- Qatar Islamic Bank’s London-based unit named European Finance House established a mutual fund to invest in sukuk offered by corporate, sovereign and quasi-sovereign issuers.
- Al Rayan Investment, a subsidiary of Masraf Al Rayan formed an alliance with Gulf Bridge International to launch $445 Mn worth maritime communications project.
- Kingdom holding reported 38.4% y-o-y dip in the net assets as of March 31, 2009 due to the fall in the market value of its holding in Citigroup, amid financial crisis.
- Abu Dhabi National Hotels is planning to increase its equity base four-fold to AED22 Bn within five years to grow its hotel portfolio.
- Saudi Aramco is expected to start the $10 Bn Khurais oil project in June 2009 as part of its plans to raise crude capacity to 12.5 Mn bbl/day by the end of 2009.
- Abu Dhabi based International Petroleum Investment Co. is looking for a roughly $5 bn loan for refinancing its recent acquisitions. Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, HSBC Holdings and Banco Santander are acting as arrangers for the deal.
- Abu Dhabi National Oil Company’s onshore division plans to award around $2 Bn of contracts before the end of 2009 to expand capacity by 200,000 bpd to 1.6 Mn bpd in 2012.
- IPO activity in the Middle East region has slowed down over the last two quarters with only $83.6 Mn being raised middle east firms in the first quarter of 2009 as compared to $3.98 Bn during the same period last year – Ernst & Young.
- Kuwaiti based logistic group Agility announced that it is planning a major acquisition in Asian emerging markets through internal funding and that it expects growth in its revenues this year.
- The credit crunch and subsequent global recession is expected to benefit the public infrastructure of GCC countries as the governments have the resources to sustain high levels of investment expenditure – Moody’s.
- Iran’s oil minister, Gholamhossein Nozari, stated that National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) will not start supplying natural gas as agreed in its contract with Crescent Petroleum until the price is revised.
- Dubai Airports Company announced that phase one of the $10 Bn Maktoum International Airport project that involved commencement of freight handling activity at the airport is expected to miss its scheduled June 2010 completion date.
Real Estate and Private Equity
- Mayadeen plans to award AED130 Mn worth contract to build two automated car parks at its Shams Abu Dhabi project during the next two months.
- Dubai based Dubai Dreamz Group has entered into a partnership with West Incorporated Group to construct low to medium cost housing units in major cities of Pakistan from July 2009 and is scheduled for complete the project by December 2011.
- Dubai based Deyaar announced that it expects to post strong results in the first quarter and that it would continue with its international expansion plans through land purchases with its cash reserves of AED1 Bn.
- Aldar Properties announced that it has signed a MOU with Abu Dhabi Investment House with an initial focus on the Al Remila part of phase 2 of Al Raha Beach.
