DUBAI: Saudi private equity firm Amwal Alkhaleej will exit at least one investment in the kingdom this year through an initial public offering, and is in advanced talks for a minority stake in an Egyptian firm, the firm's chief executive said on (...)
DUBAI: EFG Eurobank will sell its Turkish arm to Kuwait's Burgan Bank in a $355 million deal which will help shore up the struggling Greek lender's capital base.
Burgan, the commercial banking arm of Kuwait Projects Co (KIPCO), will also absorb (...)
DUBAI: Abu Dhabi National Energy (TAQA), a state-owned oil explorer and power supplier, has sold its 7 percent stake in Tesla Motors Inc, cashing out from the US electric carmaker's steady stock rally.
TAQA, which is 75-percent owned by the (...)
DUBAI: The sale of the Egyptian arm of Greece's Piraeus Bank, valued at over $200 million, has attracted five potential bidders from the Middle East and North Africa region, two sources told Reuters on Thursday.
Talks are actively ongoing but a (...)
DUBAI: Abraaj Capital, the Middle East's largest private equity firm, is set to unveil more deal-making soon and plans a major push into India.
"In the next couple of months, we will call you guys again and again because we have a robust pipeline (...)
DUBAI: HSBC, Europe's biggest lender, is significantly scaling down its private banking operations in the Middle East, two sources told Reuters, and HSBC said its top private banker in the region had been reassigned to London.
The private bank (...)
DUBAI: Abraaj Capital said on Monday it will acquire specialist fund Aureos Capital, in the latest bid by the Middle East's largest private equity firm to expand its geographical footprint.
Abraaj declined to give financial details for the (...)
DUBAI: A rebound in private equity activity in the Middle East is providing a ray of hope to the region's mergers and acquisitions business, which is struggling with weak asset values and skittish investors.
Middle East M&A volumes slumped 43 (...)
DUBAI: UAE energy group Dana Gas said it had appointed an international firm to advise on its $920 million convertible sukuk maturing in October, adding it would continue to meet its obligations.
Dana Gas, whose share price has been battered by (...)
DUBAI: Part-nationalized Royal Bank of Scotland is in talks to sell its mergers and acquisitions business in the Middle East and cut some jobs as part of a global restructuring at the UK bank, its regional head said on Monday.
Simon Penney, RBS' (...)
DUBAI: VTB Capital named Nomura Holdings' Makram Abboud as its chief executive officer for the Middle East and Africa, it said on Monday, in a bid by the Russian investment bank to beef up its presence in the region.
Abboud was most recently head (...)
DUBAI: Debt capital markets activity in the Middle East North Africa region should exceed last year's total amount as firms rebalance their borrowing away from loans towards the bond market, Morgan Stanley executives said on Sunday.
Loan volumes (...)
DUBAI: Arqaam Capital, a Dubai-based regional investment bank, has acquired Egyptian brokerage firm El Rashad Securities, tapping into low valuations and growth prospects in the politically unstable North African country.
No financial details of (...)
DUBAI: Dana Gas, the UAE energy firm, on Monday said its third-quarter net profit more than quadrupled buoyed by a 20 percent increase in total production and higher oil prices.
The Gulf's only listed natural gas company posted a third quarter (...)
LONDON/DUBAI: The likely promotion of conservative Prince Nayef as heir to the Saudi throne threatens investment sentiment only if he becomes king soon after and the focus will shift to the next line of leaders after an octogenarian elite.
The (...)
DUBAI: Egyptian private equity firm Citadel Capital, which completed a $176 million rights issue on Wednesday, plans to further strengthen its balance sheet in the next three months through fund-raising measures or small disposals.
Citadel is not (...)
DUBAI: Michael Philipp, a former Credit Suisse banker and the newly appointed head of Dubai's Shuaa Capital is eyeing a turnaround at the struggling investment bank by shifting focus to high-networth and institutional clients.
Philipp, previously (...)
DUBAI: Credit markets are sending a harsh message to Gulf companies slowly emerging from the global financial crisis and now seeking expansion opportunities: line up your best assets as collateral to secure financing.
The sovereign debt troubles (...)
DUBAI: Private equity funds in the Middle East and North Africa, under increasing pressure to produce returns for investors, have strategic buyers, including sovereign wealth funds, looming larger on their deal radar.
PE funds have been hurt by a (...)
DUBAI: Leading global investment banks, including Credit Suisse AG , are cutting research staff in the Middle East to save costs amid tough global conditions and a dearth of work in the region.
Japan's largest investment bank Nomura has shut down (...)
DUBAI: Shuaa Capital has looked at at least two brokerage companies in Egypt as potential acquisition candidates as the investment bank seeks to boost revenues amid a slump in its local UAE market, three sources said on Wednesday.
Shuaa, which (...)
DUBAI: Dubai's Abraaj Capital acquired the North African private equity operations of French asset manager Amundi, it said on Sunday, aiming to beef up its presence in the fast-growing region.
Abraaj, the largest Middle East private equity firm (...)
HONG KONG/DUBAI: Bank of America Corp has held exploratory talks with the principal investment funds of Kuwait and Qatar about selling part of its $17 billion stake in China Construction Bank, three sources with direct knowledge of the talks told (...)
HONG KONG/DUBAI: Bank of America Corp has held exploratory talks with the principal investment funds of Kuwait and Qatar about selling part of its $17 billion stake in China Construction Bank, three sources with direct knowledge of the talks told (...)
SINGAPORE/DUBAI: Global sovereign wealth funds are set to hasten investing the billions of dollars of cash holdings they have built up in a rebound from the 2008 financial crisis that has lifted their combined assets to a record.
But unlike (...)