Monday 16 August 2010

Abu Dhabi bank to sell Malaysia currency bond

Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank has launched a five year 500 million ringgit ($157.2 million) bond issue, it said on Monday, the second bank from the emirate to issue a Malaysian currency bond this year.

In a statement, Kevin Taylor, group treasurer of the bank, said the deal would be a good source of five year funding for the bank.

The bond issue falls under the bank's 3.5 billion ringgit medium-term programme and is being managed by Standard Chartered Bank and RHB Investment Bank."

Dubai Shares Climb Most in Two Weeks on Emaar Property Sale; Oil Advances - Bloomberg

Dubai shares advanced the most in almost two weeks, leading gains in Persian Gulf markets, after real estate developer Emaar Properties PJSC said it raised $90 million from the sale of a property. Crude oil advanced.

Emaar, developer of the world’s tallest skyscraper in Dubai, gained the most in almost two weeks. Dubai Financial Market PJSC, the only stock market on the Arabian Peninsula to sell shares to the public, advanced 2.8 percent. Dubai’s DFM General Index climbed 0.6 percent, the most since Aug. 3, to 1,473.71 at the 2 p.m. close in the emirate. Qatar’s QE Index rose 0.3 percent and the Bloomberg GCC 200 Index slipped 0.2 percent at 3:48 p.m. in Dubai.

“Emaar is looking good,” said Hassan El Salah, deputy head of institutional equities at Al Ramz Securities LLC, an Abu Dhabi-based brokerage. “Gains are related to the sale of the commercial building. There’s more revenue to be recorded down the road from Burj Khalifa, which would have a smoothing effect on earnings.”

Islamic U.S. Mutual Funds Flocking to Malaysia Seeking Returns - Bloomberg

Malaysia is attracting Islamic investment funds from the U.S. seeking higher returns in Asia as growth in developed economies slows.

“Emerging markets is where we see global growth going for the next couple of decades and the source for a lot better opportunities,” Bryce Fegley, chief investment officer at Saturna Sdn., the Malaysian unit of Saturna Capital LLC, the biggest Shariah-compliant stock fund in the U.S., said on Aug. 10. Saturna’s expertise in Islamic finance “steered us to Kuala Lumpur as opposed to Singapore, Hong Kong or other emerging markets,” he said.

Saturna, the Bellingham, Washington-based company that oversees $2.7 billion of assets, set up Saturna Sdn. in March and obtained an Islamic finance management license in May, Fegley said. Franklin Templeton GSC Asset Management Sdn. got approval to offer services that comply with religious principles in January, according to the Malaysian Securities Commission’s website.

Emaar Sold Hamptons Units to Countrywide For $116 Million, Incurring Loss - Bloomberg

Emaar Properties PJSC, the builder of the world’s tallest tower in Dubai, sold the Hamptons Group Ltd.’s Europe, U.K. and Asia operations to Countrywide Plc for 428.1 million dirhams ($116 million), incurring a loss of 38.5 million dirhams.

Emaar made the announcement in its financial statement posted on Dubai bourse website. The company will continue to operate Hamptons in the Middle East and North Africa.

Summer Rerun: How Bad Might It Get? � naked capitalism

This credit contraction is still young, yet we already have the spectacle of a full blown seize up in the money markets which has central bankers flummoxed. Normally, you expect this sort of panic after a few major financial train wrecks and weakness in the real economy.

One can cheerily assume that all is for the best in this best of all possible worlds. that in our tightly-coupled, information suffused, low trading cost environment, things happen faster in the past,. What we are seeing is simply a compression of events that might otherwise take longer to play out. Sharp spike down, fast recovery, and if you aren’t a subprime victim, back to life more or less as before.

Albert Edwards, Dresdner Kleinwort strategist (and the man who coined the phrase, “The Great Unwind”) has the opposite view: that the fast trajectory down (at least in the credit markets; equity investors haven’t given up their faith) is due to the fact that the cognoscenti know that more is yet to come."

Richest Indian in Gulf started out in Bahrain

A "RAGS to riches" entrepreneur who started his business with a single shop in Bahrain 37 years ago, has been named the wealthiest Indian in the Gulf.

Dubai-based Landmark Group chief executive officer Mukesh 'Micky' Jagtiani's fortune has been put at $2.65 billion (BD1.0017bn), in a wealth survey by UAE-based Arabian Business.

Mr Jagtiani, now 56, started what was to grow into an international empire in Bahrain with just $6,000 (BD2,268), when he opened a store selling baby products and accessories.