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| Top Regional Business and Finance News |
| Kuwaiti oil executives suspended over Dow Chemical penalty |
| ABW - 18 May, 2013 |
| The Kuwaiti cabinet has decided to suspend several senior oil executives over a $2.2bn penalty paid to Dow Chemical for scrapping a joint venture and ordered a judicial investigation into the matter, AFP has reported. The cabinet also announced the appointment of a new chief executive officer for state-owned Kuwait Petroleum Corp (KPC), and said it has taken "the necessary measures to suspend senior officials at (state-owned) Petrochemicals Industries Co (PIC)," which arranged the joint project with Dow Chemical before it was scrapped by the government in December 2008. |
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| Egypt's Commercial Int'l posts 30% jump in Q1 profit |
| ABW - 18 May, 2013 |
| Egypt's biggest listed bank Commercial International Bank (CIB) has posted a 30% year-on-year jump in its first-quarter consolidated net profit to EGP658m ($94.4m) as its interest margin widened, Reuters has reported. Revenue rose by an annual 40% to EGP1.61bn. Deposits grew by 9.3% during the quarter to EGP86.1bn, while lending rose 3% to EGP45.7bn. |
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| Signing of Dow deal was an unforgivable mistake |
| ABW - 18 May, 2013 |
| KUWAIT: Chairman of the Board of Al-Shall Consultations Company Jassim Al-Saadoun commented on the changes that took place in Kuwait Petroleum Corporation's Board of Directors by saying "I cannot comment now, because that may be the result of doubts in the involvement of some persons in the Dow issue, as well as the penalty clause that public funds had to bear which may lead to a reshuffle and new policy". He said the coming days may witness things with which the reasons behind the changes may become clearer. About the Dow deal he said "if we knew the size of information that are being disclosed now, before the deal was signed in December 2008, our decision would have been not to sign the deal. He said the signing of the deal under an international economic crises was an unforgivable mistake, in addition to what became clear that there is no economic return from the deal, such as job opportunities, training of Kuwaitis and bringing in modern technology. He said that what is being talked about now is "how much would we have gained if we went ahead with that deal", is a wrong evaluation method. He said although there is an opinion within KPC that openly rejects the deal, and that "Dow Chemical is the beneficiary, as shown by the report on the London meeting that was attended by five members from KPC, in addition to six from Kuwait Investment Office in London, in addition to the advisors of KPC portfolio including Morgan Stanley advisors, the report was changed to be in favor of the deal. Al-Saadoun said, the Dow deal was a failed one, while a penalty clause of more than one third of its value represents a crime by itself. Earlier on Thursday, the council of ministers suspended an unspecified number of senior officials at state-owned Petrochemicals Industries Co. (PIC) and also replaced the chief executive officer of Kuwait Petroleum Corp. (KPC) over the payment of the $2.2 billion penalty to US Dow Chemical. The measures were announced following two high-level emergency meetings by the Supreme Petroleum Council and the Cabinet, both of which are headed by the prime minister, to study the implications of the penalty payment which has already resulted in a political standoff with the national assembly. The meetings were held on Thursday. The Cabinet also asked the Fatwa and Legislative Department, the government's legal authority, to take the whole issue to the public prosecution to launch a full judicial investigation into the deal with Dow and its cancellation and the payment of fine. A statement issued by the Cabinet said the suspension of PIC leading official comes to ensure a fair inquiry and investigation into the issue. Last year, the International Chamber of Commerce ordered Kuwait to pay $2.2 billion in compensation to Dow Chemical after the government scrapped a joint multi-billion-dollar deal with the US giant firm. The Cabinet also decided to appoint Nezar Al-Adasani as the deputy chairman and chief executive officer of KPC, the country's most important oil position after the oil minister. The sudden payment of the fine last week shocked the country and three MPs on Sunday filed a request to grill Oil Minister Hani Hussein over the payment which triggered a political standoff between the government and the National Assembly. The government has boycotted this week's parliament sessions in what was seen as a protest against the grillings. Speaker Ali Al-Rashed yesterday informed a number of MPs about the details of his meeting the day before with Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah. Rashed reiterated after the meeting with MPs that the government has not demanded that the two grilling be pulled out or postponed for more than two weeks. He also said that the government is highly expected to attend the next assembly session on May 28 amid reports the two ministers may ask for a further two-week delay to the debate of the grilling. Several MPs insisted that the grilling will not be withdrawn and that its debate was necessary, blaming the government for boycotting the assembly sessions. |
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| Moody's warns it could cut Lebanon's govt rating on Syria effects |
| ABW - 15 May, 2013 |
| Moody's Investors Service on Tuesday warned it could cut Lebanon's government bond rating on potential spillover effects from Syria's civil war, including suppressed growth and political instability. |
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| PIC pays $2bn in damages to Dow |
| ABW - 13 May, 2013 |
| Dow Chemical Company has received $2.2 billion in damages from Kuwait's state chemicals company, bringing an end to a more than four-year dispute over a scrapped plastics joint venture.The cash payment comes a year after an international arbitrator told Petrochemical Industries Company (PIC), a unit of state-run Kuwait Petroleum, to pay up for pulling out of the $17.4 billion K-Dow petrochemical venture in December 2008. PIC had cited the deteriorating global economy for its withdrawal.K-Dow was a politically sensitive deal in major oil exporter Kuwait and came under scrutiny in parliament, where lawmakers often clash with the government, especially over large state investments.Last year the International Chamber of Commerce's International Court ruled that PIC had violated its agreement with Dow Chemical. The US company intends to use the payment to reduce debt and pay shareholder dividends, chief executive Andrew Liveris said in a statement. The cash payment includes damages as well as recovery of its costs, the statement said.A statement from PIC, published by Kuwait's state-run news agency Kuna, confirmed it had made the payment and that it had "exhausted all possible challenges to the award". Dow and PIC currently operate four other joint ventures, including ME Global, Equate, Kuwait Olefins Company and Kuwait Styrene Company. |
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| For banks in the cyber heist - how to get their money back? |
| ABW - 12 May, 2013 |
| Because the sums were large and such attacks are relatively new, the two Middle East banks hit in a $45 million ATM heist face an uncertain path in trying to recover their losses, financial, insurance and legal experts say. |
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| Some KSE firms in money-laundering |
| ABW - 11 May, 2013 |
| KUWAIT CITY, May 10: Some shareholding companies listed on the Kuwait Stock Exchange are neck deep involved in high-level money laundering activities, which have become the gateway for control and purchase of certain shares and the changes in the ownership of shares is a testimony of this, reports Al-Shahed daily quoting a reliable source. The source informed Thursday witnessed a hectic activity in transactions which reached KD 169 million. He said this was the highest level since almost three-and-a-half years at the beginning of world economic recession in 2008, when values of transactions rose to KD 65 million. He wondered what could have been the secret behind sudden rise in values of transactions involving companies owned by power brokers and major contractors. He asked whether sudden rise in cash flow is natural in a situation whereby only five companies control 420 million shares out of the total 936 million shares in the market. He affirmed the shareholding companies have started money laundering with change in position of some shares. He added one of them got 200 million shares. He revealed the companies laundered about KD 95 million during Thursday's transactions as against the real market value transactions of about KD 73.22 million. |
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| Nuclear Iran would threaten free flow of oil supply: Netanyahu |
| ABW - 11 May, 2013 |
| Jerusalem, May 10 -- Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has told Chinese President Xi Jinping that a nuclear Iran would threaten the free flow of oil through the Hormuz Straits. |
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| Iraq increases oil price for U.S. and Asian countries |
| ABW - 10 May, 2013 |
| Azerbaijan, Baku, 10 May / Trend A.Taghiyeva / |
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| Kuwaitis irked at $2.2b payment to Dow |
| ABW - 09 May, 2013 |
| Kuwait: Kuwaiti media and politicians yesterday fumed at the payment of $2.2 billion to ... |
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| Top Press Releases |
| Bank muscat CEO ranked among the 500 most influential Arabs |
| ABW - 19 May, 2013 |
| For the third consecutive year, AbdulRazak Ali Issa, chief executive of bank muscat, has earned a place among the world's 500 most influential Arabs. |
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| Turkish Airlines adds 5 new destinations to growing flight network in May 2013 |
| ABW - 19 May, 2013 |
| Istanbul, Turkey: With the world's 4th largest flight network of 223 destinations in 99 countries, Turkish Airlines continues to grow with five new destinations being added this May. |
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| NBK celebrates its 61st anniversary |
| ABW - 19 May, 2013 |
| Photo shows NBK's old building National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) celebrates this year its 61st anniversary. On 19 May, 1952, the late Amir Sheikh Abdullah Al-Salem Al-Sabah, issued the famous Amiri Decree promulgating the incorporation of the National Bank of Kuwait as the first national bank and the first shareholding company in Kuwait and the Gulf. The commemoration of this inspiring and monumental anniversary comes as a culmination of a remarkable story of success, by means of which NBK has been transformed from a small bank that occupies the area of three shops and a handful of employees relying on traditional and manual banking tools to one of the largest and most profitable banks in the region. Today, NBK has the largest local and overseas banking network encompassing more than 173 branches, representative offices and subsidiaries strategically located within the main international and regional financial centers. . NBK was also recently named among the 'World's 50 Safest Banks' for the seventh consecutive time, illustrating the success of the bank's conservative strategy, prudent risk management dedication excellent customer service. NBK enjoys the highest credit ratings among all the banks in the Middle East and North Africa region by international rating agencies Moody's, Standard & Poor's, and Fitch Ratings. |
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| NBAD, ADCB among co-arrangers of Atlantis' $850 mln loan |
| ABW - 19 May, 2013 |
| Atlantis, The Palm, is raising an $850 million syndicated loan to |
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| DJ Iraq Resumes Crude Oil Exports from Northern Kirkuk - Shippers |
| OsterDowJones - 16 May, 2013 |
| By Hassan Hafidh |
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| Abu Dhabi developer Tasweek to launch new development in the UAE capital RE1 |
| ABW - 16 May, 2013 |
| United Arab Emirates (UAE) based developer Tasweek announced in April 2013, that it is to launch a new residential community in Abu Dhabi in the month of September at an estimated cost of 500 million Dirhams (US$136.2 million).TasweekA-s CEO Masood Al Awar described phase one of the development as encompassing 400 detached and semi-detached villas, as well as retail outlets and community amenities, although he did not disclose the proposed location in the UAE capital.CEO Al Awar intimated that prices for the properties involved were 10 per cent below comparable luxury housing developments in the emirate; he went on to say that Tasweek projected a 30 per cent return on investment from the project.In published quotes Al Awar said of the new residential project.A'It will be total community living. Normally what has happened in the past, people have built houses, and then when theyA-re sold the community aspect comes. But what weA-re doing is building it all simultaneously.A"Prices will start at 650,000 Dirhams (US$ 117,118) for a two-bedroom property ranging up to 1.25 million Dirhams (US$ 340,599) for a five-bedroom villa, unit dimensions run from 150 to 350 square metres (1,614 to 3,766 square feet).As yet unnamed, the development is scheduled to break ground in December and will take a period of two years to complete; the cost of build will be financed entirely from TasweekA-s internal cash reserves, Al Awar said. Phase two of the project has yet to be confirmed, Al Awar commented, although he remained positive that a second stage would come to fruition.Abu DhabiA-s property market deteriorated in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, with a report by real estate consultancy Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) published in the fourth quarter of 2012 assessing that property prices in the emirate had declined by 53 per cent over the previous four years. JLL also wrote that given the volume of new residential stock in the pipeline due to market over the next 18 months, any significant recovery in Abu DhabiA-s real estate sector was unlikely before 2014.However, there are positive influences, in that Abu Dhabi is openly committed to spending US$ 90 billion on infrastructure and housing projects, along with the fact that in order to qualify for housing allowance, all public sector employees are now required to live within the emirate itself. |
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| Aman sustains AED 7.7 mln loss in Q1 |
| ABW - 14 May, 2013 |
| Dubai Islamic Insurance & Reinsurance Co. (Aman) posted unaudited financial statements for Q1-13, which reflected net losses of AED 7.7 million (AED 0.03 per share), against net earnings of AED 4.9 million (AED 0.02 per share) in the year-ago period. |
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| QPIC Q1 net profit surges 52pc |
| ABW - 13 May, 2013 |
| Kuwait-based Qurain Petrochemical Industries Company (QPIC) has recorded a 52 per cent jump in its net profit for the first quarter which soared to KD22.61 million ($79.3 million) from KD14.85 million last year. This represented an increase of KD7.75 million in its net profit for the financial year ended March 31, 2013, said a statement from the company. The earnings per share (EPS) for the year stood at 20.75 fils compared to an EPS of 13.55 fils per share for last year. "QPIC had reported a net profit of KD 33.02 million for the financial year ended 31 March 2012, comprising 15 months due to shifting the beginning of the financial year to April," it stated. |
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| Bank signs new accord in retail business push |
| ABW - 13 May, 2013 |
| MANAMA: Khaleeji Commercial Bank (KHCB) has signed a three-way memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Bahrain Defence Force's Military Consumer Association (MCA) and its main supplier Glabrous International (GI). |
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| G. Willi-Food Posts Q1 2013 Results |
| CLM - 13 May, 2013 |
| G. Willi-Food International, a company specializing in the development, marketing and international distribution of kosher foods, announced its unaudited financial results for the first quarter ended March 31. |
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| Other Regional Headlines |
| Iran's Jalili vows not to abdicate nuclear right if elected president |
| Xinhua News Agency - 18 May, 2013 |
| Iran's chief nuclear negotiator and presidential candidate Saeed Jalili pledged not to retreat from the Islamic republic's nuclear rights if he is elected as the president, Press TV reported Saturday. |
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| Iran president: Managing country without oil revenues possible |
| ABW - 16 May, 2013 |
| Azerbaijan, Baku, May 16 /Trend D.Khatinoglu/ |
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| Six Iranian politicans withdraw their candidacies from presidential elections |
| ABW - 15 May, 2013 |
| Azerbaijan, Baku, May 15 /Trend S.Isayev, T. Jafarov/ |
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| Netanyahu takes flak over bed on plane |
| ABW - 13 May, 2013 |
| MANCHESTER, May 13 -- Benjamin Netanyahu is changing his mid-air sleeping arrangements after a public flap over a $127,000 custom-built bedroom for the Israeli prime minister and his wife on a flight to London last month. |
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| Ex-Iran president Rafsanjani to contest presidential elections next month |
| ABW - 12 May, 2013 |
| Islamabad, May 12 (ANI): Former Iranian president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and the incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's close ally, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, have both registered as candidates for next month's presidential election. |
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| Mubarak says don't judge Morsi |
| United Press International - 12 May, 2013 |
| In his first interview since his ouster from power, former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said President Mohamed Morsi should not be judged. |
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| Tehran's mayor runs for Iran's president |
| Xinhua News Agency - 11 May, 2013 |
| Mayor of Iranian capital Tehran, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, signed up on Saturday for Iran's upcoming presidential election slated for June 14. |
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| Iran's presidential race officially opens |
| ABW - 08 May, 2013 |
| TEHRAN, May 8 -- Iranian authorities opened the registration process on Tuesday for candidates in next month's presidential election that will pick a successor to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and offer a critical test for reformists battered after years of crackdowns. |
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| Iraqi clerics: keeping silent on terrorist groups prohibited under sharia |
| ABW - 05 May, 2013 |
| Keeping silent on terrorist groups and failing to co-operate with security forces is prohibited under sharia law, a number of Iraqi clerics said Friday (May 3rd).Friday preachers in Anbar, Baghdad, Diyala, Ninawa, Salaheddine and Kirkuk provinces read a unified statement issued by the League of Friday Preachers in Iraq, which also said those who assist terrorist groups are considered accomplices in their crimes.Citizens should not meet what al-Qaeda and other groups are doing with silence or acceptance, because killing policemen and citizens of different sects is terrorism and keeping silent is another facet of terrorism or tacit approval of it, Anbar Friday preacher Sheikh Ismail Radif al-Obaidi told worshippers in Ramadi.Diyala Friday preacher Sheikh Hassan al-Mawla urged citizens who do not co-operate with security forces to wake from their sleep, pick up their phones and report the whereabouts of terrorists who he said could drag Iraq to a sectarian war in which there are no winners."Top Islamic scholars have disavowed al-Qaeda's terrorist acts, and you as citizens must walk in their footsteps by helping security personnel and reporting on the whereabouts of al-Qaeda members to stop the bloodshed in Iraq," he said. |
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| Businessman Sawiris' Family Returns to Egypt After Travel Ban Lift |
| All Africa Global Media - 05 May, 2013 |
| Businessman Naguib Sawiris and his family returned to Egypt on Friday after their names were lifted from Egypt's travel ban list, the Middle East News Agency (MENA) reported. |
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| Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Market Roundup |
| Bahrain |
1,167.19 |
+4.35 |
+0.37% |
21May |
| Egypt |
5,407.25 |
-24.90 |
-0.46% |
21May |
| Iraq |
122.18 |
+0.26 |
+0.21% |
21May |
| Israel |
1,108.79 |
+3.42 |
+0.31% |
21May |
| Jordan |
2,015.07 |
+4.43 |
+0.22% |
21May |
| Kuwait |
8,242.31 |
+116.33 |
+1.43% |
21May |
| Lebanon |
1,210.37 |
+0.00 |
+0.00% |
21May |
| Morocco |
9,040.31 |
+12.62 |
+0.14% |
20May |
| Oman |
6,367.10 |
-17.63 |
-0.28% |
21May |
| Palestine |
455.81 |
+0.50 |
+0.11% |
21May |
| Qatar |
9,036.95 |
-27.36 |
-0.30% |
21May |
| Saudi Arabia |
7,355.27 |
+47.91 |
+0.66% |
21May |
| Tunisia |
4,432.58 |
+22.29 |
+0.51% |
21May |
| United Arab Emirates |
2,319.35 |
-21.85 |
-0.93% |
21May |
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