StreetJab:Word on the Street is...

Vimpelcom's KarTel

2008-07-20T03:56:00.003-04:00

Haven't been following Eastern Europe lately..but we do have some news there as well.

Alex Izosimov has not wasted time in getting back a bigger stake in Kar-Tel. VimpelCom said it has increased its stake in the Kazakh subsidiary to 74.9 percent, VimpelCom bought a 24.9 percent stake from Cyprus-registered Limnotex Developments Ltd. The company previously held 50 percent plus one share in Kar-Tel.

It must be noted that VimpelCom had formerly owned 100% of Kar-Tel, the second largest cellular operator in Kazakhstan, which it acquired in September 2004 for US$350mn plus US$75mn in debt. It later sold a 50% minus one share to Crowell, a Cypriot company owned by shareholders of Kazakhstan's ATF Bank.

Mapletree and Arcapita form JV to hold JTC industrial portfolio

2008-07-20T03:49:00.001-04:00

Mapletree Investments has formed a joint venture with Arcapita Bank of Bahrain to hold a portfolio of industrial properties bought from JTC Corp.
The assets are worth a combined 1.7 billion Singapore dollars.
Arcapita will hold a 56.5 per cent stake in the joint venture called Mapletree Industrial Trust (MIT).
Mapletree will own 25.1 per cent, while the rest will be held by Mapletree Industrial Fund, a pan-Asian private real estate industrial fund sponsored by Mapletree.
In a statement, Mapletree said the acquisition of JTC’s industrial property portfolio, which was announced in April, has been completed.
The properties include 39 blocks of flatted factories, 12 amenity centres, three multi-tenanted business park buildings and one warehouse building.
The assets have been officially transferred to MIT on July 1. Mapletree Industrial Fund Management will manage the properties. - CNA/vm

Banking & the Nationalization Agenda:

2008-04-10T08:44:00.005-04:00

Nationalization has been part of most GCC states schedule, but implementing it by far has been a harrowing experience in most industries.

The issue is most problematic when it comes to the lower strata & the niche functional jobs with limited talent pool.
The UAE government for instance, has decreed that in all firms 40% of employees should be locals, which is no mean feat when you consider that only 20% of the population are Emiratis. Add niche banking skills to the mix and it becomes even harder to attract the right candidates.

As it is, HR divisions across most banks do not deny the fact that local candidates are provided better allowances than their expat counterparts in order to retain them.

Some countries like Bahrain have nationalization on their agenda but do not act on it as they do not have the obligation to fulfill it. Banks in other countries such as Kuwait increase the staffing as per the national agenda for about a quarter and then retract back to previous counts , as the locals do not fancy a 'day-job'.Meanwhile, salaries for locals in the UAE come in at around a third higher, or banks will reward them in other ways.

Talent is imperative specialized jobs .Having said that, it might also do the governments a world of good if they were to promote advanced training to their citizens and then bring them back to work for a minimum period. This would help them retain their cost as well.

The $2 Trillion Barrier..

2008-04-06T12:24:00.002-04:00

Amongst the major developments ( or recessions) occuring across the world, what seemed to have gone by without notice is the estimated cost of projects planned in the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council has for the first time broken the two trillion dollar barrier.

So why is this significant?The two trillion dollar event is an important watershed, marking not only a significant milestone in the development of the Gulf, but also demonstrating that the regional boom is far from over. The figure is more than double the combined gross domestic product of the six GCC economies.

It's a well known fact that the driving force behind this momentum is the construction sector,which roughly accounts for 59% of the total development costs.

The four biggest projects planned in the GCC are the City of Silk in Kuwait which is expected to cost 77 billion dollars, followed by the Bawadi Project in the United Arab Emirates at a cost of 55 dollars, while the Sudair Industrial City in Saudi Arabia and the Yas Island Project in the UAE are expected to cost 40 billion dollars each.

Palestinian Investment Fund

2008-03-25T14:04:00.003-04:00

A few years back, S& P had done a report on the assets held by Palestinian authority which determined that approximately USD$ 600 million has been invested in various commercial ventures across the world.The report looked at investments in ten privately- and/or publicly-held companies, six in the telecommunications sector and the balance in biotechnology, insurance, the gaming industry, and cement.

While browsing through their official site however, one tends to wonder , just how much transparency exists ( the website shows only investments made locally). An audited report in early 2000 indicated investments included Israeli patronized ventures.

Unlike other funds in the region that have been more than generous to a depressed western economy, the PIF is now looking towards a future that will encompass investments that will benefit the people. Their books are currently audited by E&Y.

The challenge ofcourse lies in enticing foreign partnership and the team led by Mr Mustafa Mohammed,Cheif Executive of the PIF is trying make a difference by paving the way towards a private investment driven sustainable economy.

Visa IPO

2008-03-15T05:48:00.004-04:00

It so happens that I'm pretty familiar with one of the lead managers for the gonna-make-me-rich (aka get rich quick ,aka im smokin washingtons from here to Kansas) IPO scheme that is Visa.

The bank is offering it to their private banking customers EXCLUSIVELY.Think thats bad , wait till you hear this..the minimum you need to put in is ..hold your breath ..a whopping USD 180k !!! Off to E-trade!

Totally understandable? Well..the demand for shares of Visa is expected to be strong because shares of top rival MasterCard have performed so well. Shares of MasterCard have soared more than 300% from their first day closing price of $46. That's a great return for an IPO that priced at $39 a share on May 24, 2006.

At a price band between $37- $42, the IPO is currently oversubscribed well beyond the projected 16 billion. Personally I'm hearing stories of folks in the US putting their houses on mortgage to get into the gig (no exaggeration here). We ll be here to keep you posted !

Goldman Sachs & Company, one of the banks arranging the Visa IPO, arranged a meeting with potential investors in Dubai to tap wealth in the Gulf, which is reaping a windfall from record oil prices. Infact the Kuwait Investment Authority is looking at a significant investment in Visa.

2 years from now, we oughta either see a few millionaires getting a whole lot richer or a whole load of people charging the gates of the card company.

Update: Kuwait Investment Authority has confirmed buying $800mn worth shares of Visa

What happened to the Sovereign Wealth Funds?

2008-03-11T23:58:00.002-04:00

A couple of months ago, Mubadala this, Qatar Investment Authority, that. You couldn't hear enough of the Sovereign wealth funds. Now they've become yesterday's news. I'm going to see what they've been up to now that the "spotlight" appears off them again.

On a side note, did anyone read the article in Businessweek a couple of weeks back about buyout firm Abraaj Capital. They're the top buyout firm in the Middle East, with an AUM of $4.9 billion. This is the kind of company to follow, along with their founder, Arif Naqvi. Some of the deals under his name are the buyouts of logistics company Aramex, Egyptian Fertilizers and Saudi Airline National Air Services. He's since tripled his investment in Aramex through an IPO, made $800 million selling Egyptian Fertilizers to Orascom Construction and plans an IPO of National Air Services.

Most of the major US and EU private equity firms have approached Abraaj to acquire them but Naqvi refuses, understandably so. Abraaj has what they covet, a strong footing in the region. Mr. Naqvi's and Abraaj should be followed by anyone interested in Middle East finance.

Petro dollar future Article

2008-03-03T04:59:00.002-05:00

Morgan Stanley has put up a very good analysis on where the petro dollar is headed [Share]

SWF's regulation-a US fantasy?

2008-02-28T05:26:00.002-05:00

Brad Setser has put up an interesting article on why sovereign wealth funds may have an upper hand over the Henry Paulson's team [Share]

Wipro bidding for CapGemini

2008-02-28T05:08:00.003-05:00

India's number-three software exporter, Wipro will make a bid for France's Capgemini by the end of February in a deal that puts a $6.4 billion to $7 price tag on the company.Shares of Capgemini rose over 9% in Paris trading on the report. Investment advisors Citigroup and HSBC have been frantically trying to finalize a plan for financing the deal before year-end. "Details about leveraged buyout financing and other options were discussed," a banker close to the deal said.

Analysts say Capgemini would give Wipro a strong foothold in the consulting business. “Capgemini has a good presence in Europe and it would help Wipro to insulate itself from the weak dollar earnings,” said one analyst. Another expressed concerns about integration. Paris-based Capgemini has units in North America, northern, central and southern Europe, and Asia Pacific, as well as India. It boasts 75,000 employees.

From Flying Carpets to Flying Palaces !!

2008-02-25T04:26:00.005-05:00

Supposedly Prince Waleed will not be the only one to get the Airbus A-380 private jet aka 'Flying Palace' in this region.

Airbus Industries is being bombarded with requests/orders from the middle east on the VIP jet.One of the them includes the Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed.

Business families in the region are all in the waiting line that may take the corporation 2 to 2.5 years to build and deliver depending on the level of customization requested.

Let the good times begin for Airbus :)

Pictures courtesy Bornich.org - More here

Laptop Woes et al.

2008-02-25T03:55:00.005-05:00

The laptop has been out of commission.It just won't boot up no more.Although its too early to write a orbituary, I do see myself getting rid of a few hardware (already in process). So with the big weekend (national day -liberation day ) going on heres a few things we didn't cover.

-Etisalat announces Max 3.5 data package

-Kuwait announces salary increase for government employees (both citizens &expats)-the population isn't happy ( what's new)

-Bahrain and UAE are considering revaluation of their respective currency,following increaseing construction worker strikes.

-Boy were we having a time here in Kuwait with a lot of people trying to subscribe to the Ajman Bank IPO (close to $150 million is being raised).

- Qatar Investment Authority is looking to inject money into Royal Bank of Scotland, only this time there has been no explicit solicitation of interest by the bank-this will be interesting to monitor !

That should cover the major items-more soon

IPOs in the GCC

2008-02-20T11:07:00.003-05:00

I attended a presentation today done by a tech solution company out of Dubai that specializes in the automation process of IPO management for banks.

There was a lot of things that in the IPO process that I didn't know and was glad to learn at this session. It also showed the focus that countries such as Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE were having towards getting their stuff together to make the process of subscribing to a share using channels such as the ATM , net banking and even SMS.

The road map laid out by the speaker envisioned the ability of a GCC citizen to be able to subscribe to shares across borders.Saudi Arabia had recently announced a bylaw that enabled GCC citizens to buy shares in certain companies. Qatar will join the bandwagon soon.

The stumbling blocks currently include Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman , although the Central Bank of Kuwait recently has started looking at ways to go into the online process.

Well time for me to prepare a summary now ..

Qatar to buy stake in Credit Suisse

2008-02-18T11:20:00.004-05:00

Talk about a government on a roll, the Qatar Investment Authority will be purchasing 5% stake (worth $3 billion) in the Swiss bank. [Share]

A few weeks back there was a report on the QIA's interest in purchasing Borse Dubai's stake in the London Stock Exchange.

Flipping burgers or Crunchin Numbers?

2008-02-17T12:07:00.004-05:00

Mergers & Inquisition , a financial blog has an interesting article that compares salaries made @ Mc Donalds v/s i-banking and the insights are , well , insightful.[Share]

Citi ibanking heads for Beijing

2008-02-17T12:05:00.001-05:00

Citigroup has signed a mainland investment banking joint venture with China ahead of the sector expected opening according to The Financial Times.

The China investment announcement continues to set the stage for the Chinese government to relax the current ban on foreign investment in China’s securities industry.

Nonetheless, Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley both signed similar China investment agreement last month and Goldman Sachs and UBS signed their deals prior to the ban two years ago.

DP World sets eyes on Sokhna

2008-02-16T01:28:00.002-05:00

DP world had a controversial 2007 with the whole DP World Accquistion attempt in the US. Although the showdown didn't work in their favour, it hasn't stopped them from continuing to strengthen their hold in regional accquisitons..

Tomorrow, officials from DP world will be signing a $670 million deal to accquire Sokhna Ports in Egypt.

Sokhna, located about 40 kilometres south of Suez on the Red Sea, will be 43rd terminal of the DP World which has already been running port operations in 23 countries.

SHUAA Capital acquires 20% in Orion Overseas...

2008-02-12T11:28:00.000-05:00

SHUAA Capital PSC is an investment bank, headquartered in Dubai that has accquired a 20% stake in Orion Holding Overseas SA, a financial services provider, for 193 mil United Arab Emirate dirhams ($ 52.566 mil USD).

Orion Overseas is involved in multi asset-class brokerage, quality asset management and corporate finance.

SHUAA's goal through the accquisition is to expand it's brokerage execution skills to eight markets from three and be the one stop shop in the region across multi-asset class.

Reverse Dollar Drain

2008-02-10T08:17:00.000-05:00

During the recent market turmoil, SWFs provided $59 billion in much-needed liquidity to the Wall Street banks battered by more than $130 billion in writedowns from the declining values of mortgage-related assets.

While a significant share of this liquidity came from GCC based sovereign funds, economists said that the massive economic diversification and infrastructure development under way in the Gulf countries have substantially increased the chance of reverse investment flows.

In other words, the availability of future funds (for investment abroad) from the oil-exporting nations would increasingly depend on what share of oil revenue is taken for in their domestic economies.

Other factors also include the pressure on arab leaders to create job opportunities for citizens in the range of 4-6 million over the next 10 years .

Improving real estate locally is yet another arena into which many of the GCC states have have followed in Dubai's footsteps as viable opportunities notwithstanding the fact that they could potentially serve as alternate revenue sources in times to come.

Wall street may not feel necessarily feel the impact of this in the near term.But being bailed out each time by the Gulf Alliance may not be the best strategy . Then again , there's Singapore right?

Sky to Bridge Capital from the Gulf

2008-02-07T13:27:00.000-05:00

New York based SkyBridge Capital, a hedge manager fund backed by Michael Dell is looking to raise $500 million towards launching a fund.They have approached Qatar Investment Authority and the Abudhabi Investment Authority.

Skybridge came into the news when providing hedge fund seed capital to talented managers without necessarily investing in their portfolio became the new fad.

Yet another company whose website has zilch info.Don't beleive me, check it out for yourself [link]

ACT airlines stake bought by Manara Investments

2008-02-05T13:07:00.000-05:00

ACT airlines is an Istanbul based cargo carrier owned by Dallas-based HBK Investments and Turkish businessmen Yavuz Çizmeci and Cankut Bagana. Manara capital, which was founded in 2005 by a group of 4 Saudi businessmen has bought 21% equity stake in ACT for an undisclosed sum.

One thing I've noticed over the past few days while looking up capital firms in the region is that rarely do they have a web presence and if they do, it ends up being a poorly done site. Take the case of Manara. After several minutes of googling and stumbling on three companies with the same name, it turned out that none of them were remotely close to the saudi group.

Ofcourse we re not here to critique on site design (or lack of it)-but it does help getting to know an firm and the array of portfolio that it involves itselfs with.

Return of the Oryx

2008-02-03T06:22:00.001-05:00

The Oryx as many of you already know( or don't) is an animal that was almost driven to extinction in the Arabian Peninsula (only to be re-introduced in the early 80s).

We 're talking here , however about the rebound Oryx Private Equity Fund, floated by National Commercial Bank Capital Company of Saudi that has acquired major stake in HBG - a private equity fund out of Dubai.

HBG has been involved with deals that focus on consumer logistics, financial services & infrastructure.

As per the terms of the deal, Oryx will act as anchor investor in HBG's $200 million private equity fund

The deal reinforces a growing trend of involvement by large scale financial institutions in Middle Eastern private equity either through wholly owned subsidiaries or in partnership with leading independent players.

HBG is expected to invest over $2 billion in course of the next investment period.

Aramco on top

2008-01-31T10:42:00.000-05:00

Aramco does it once again.Saudi's oil magnet remains on top of Dinar Standard's largest business enterprises.The DS 100 as it's called includes 57 member countries from the Organization of Business Conferences.

Oil prices hitting $100/barrel have ensured that nine out ten companies ranked belong tothe energy sector.

Swicorp Jossour Transactions

2008-01-27T11:43:00.000-05:00

Swicorp launched Sicorp Jossour Company back in 2005 has invested 20% or roughly US $149 million and approved an additional US$209 million in three additional transactions. Energy and Energy intensive sectors form the focus of this Private Equity firm .

Their previous acquistions include a major stake in Riyadh based EPETCO, a glass fiber reinforcement manufacturer as well as a greenfield refinery project in Egypt.

Brew Story:The Deal is Sealed

2008-01-25T12:01:00.000-05:00

Finally Scottish & NewCastle owner of Foster’s lager have it their way. The Cash bid of 800 pence a share totalling to 7.8 billion pounds has been agreed to jointly by Carlsberg and rival Heineken.

The cost of the deal will be split 54-46 (Carlsberg taking up the major cost).Under the deal Carlsberg will take over the Eastern European Operations , while the British,Belgium, US and Indian businesses will be taken over by Heineken.The deal has been 'brewing' for long time with almost 3 offers from the team being rejected by S&N.

The deal is expected to be completed by the 2nd quarter of 2008 and seems to be a positive note for the brewery industry as they look to cut costs at a time when the input price for malting barley and aluminum cans has risen .The deal will be managed by Lehman Brothers & Credit Suisse on the Buy Side.Rothschild, UBS and Deutsche Bank are advising S&N.

Emerging Markets Syndrome

2008-01-23T03:17:00.000-05:00

A lot of what I write will focus on Emerging markets.The major reason being that Im in the region where all the buzz is happening. Infact, it was the upturn in the MENA economy that brought me here from the States in the first place.These are intersting times to be in!
Here's something I didnt know...Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA) has a 5% stake in Deutsche bank bought way back in the 70's .I wonder if it did it any good.

Wealth Funds and US foreign policy

2008-01-23T02:05:00.000-05:00

Heres a thought to ponder. Since a lot of foreign government funds (swfs) depend on the success of the economy/institution of the funded nation to perform well, would a wee bit of influence from the investors actually matter?I mean, the funds will thrive if the economy/company thrives. I can't help but wonder if all the talk about the US government's concern on cross-border investments are raised by everyone except Washington.

Policy dictates that foreign governments /institutions do not buy more than a 10% stake , lest they open up to investigations. US officials maintain that sovereign funds appeared to be adhering to sound financial practices and not political motivations, at least so far.

Public Policy think-tanks out of Harvard and elsewhere fear that heavy investments by state owned authorities might inadvertently lead to haggling over US industry regulation standards or even foreign policy.

Caution is a prescription.Regulators can definetly set control standards that would ensure funds originating out of the Middle east (or from any foreign governments) provide disclosure of investment practices and transparency in the fund strategy.

McKinsey Quarterly Report -January

2008-01-21T06:41:00.001-05:00

is on the subject of Global banking 2008 [Share]

Davos 2008 in association with Bahrain..

2008-01-19T10:08:00.000-05:00

CNN has been airing ads from time to time on the World Economic Forum 2008 collaborating with the Bahrain Economic Development Board.The event scheduled between January 24 and 27 will showcase opportunities and incentives of investment in the Kingdom.

Among the speeches to be made include Sheikh Salman (who is the Chairman of the Bahrain Economic Development Board) will speak about “Rebuilding Brand America: Five Suggestions for the Future President” on Jan. 24. Khalid Janahi, chairman of the executive committee of Al-Shamil Bank, will discuss “Understanding Iran’s Ambitions.”

Austria's Ambition

2008-01-19T10:02:00.000-05:00

The Financial Times has an interesting article on the Warsaw Stock Exchange's determination to be the top bourse in Europe.[Share]

Wal-mart to Russia

2008-01-18T11:17:00.000-05:00

Over the course of the next two years, Wal-mart will be expanding into the booming Russian market.The lack of competitors coupled with what Wal-mart CEO H. Lee Scott termed as a 'growing consumer nation' may provide them all the reasons to make their entry sooner than later.

Wal-Mart may team with a local partner to open Russian stores, Juan Figuereo, vice president for international mergers and acquisitions, said last February. The company was among potential partners with which X5, Russia's largest supermarket company, would consider allying in a joint venture if it were to seek to expand in Russia, CEO Lev Khasis said in March.

The obstacles waiting for the consumer giant are not new.A country known for it's corruption, high-level red tape as well as expensive real-estate, Russia provides challenges to Wal-mart that it has previously seen in India.But for what is turning out to be an emerging market phenomenon, the more you take on- the better you get at it!

Grumbling @ Goldman...

2008-01-17T13:22:00.000-05:00

With all the hype recently about Goldman Sachs being the only major investment bank to avoid being stung in last year’s subprime mortgage fiasco and the record profits it rung up last year, bonus time was expected to be a time of good cheer for Goldman employees.

But, according to The New York Post, some were not so happy with their year-end stocking stuffers. The paper, citing “whispers”, said that some cost center employees, the back office operations, IT employees and such, were getting stiffed.

The firm’s chief executive, Lloyd C. Blankfein, was rewarded with a record $67.9 million bonus, while its co-presidents, Gary Cohn and Jon Winkelried, each received bonuses of about $40.5 million, up 58 percent from last year. And the bank also set aside 20.2 billion to pay employee wages, benefits and bonuses this year, a 23 percent increase from last year.
But cost center workers expecting 75 percent of their salary as a bonus, got only 15 percent, the newspaper said.[Share]

Soveriegn Wealth Funds..

2008-01-17T06:45:00.000-05:00

Streetjunkie recently attended a conference in manhattan on Sovereign Wealth Fund and had a lot of doubts on its potential success(where success is a relative term but you know what I mean). Its interesting how over the past few days swfs have gained prominence injecting cash to the cash-strapped US economy.

Last month the Saudi Kingdom announced the establishment of a $900 billion dollar swf(by Public Investment Fund).

Many in the region believe that establishment of such Future Generation Funds is a big step that might be beneficial to the local economy.But at times you are bound to wonder whether the buying spree is actually pitted towards strategic investing.

In other words , the age-old question repeats - does brand name investment guarantee success? It did in the 90s when Kingdom Holdings made their foray into Citigroup..but luck hasnt exactly been on their side for quite some time now -Citi i.e

The Singapore Government's financial arm, Temasek Holdings on the other hand has been making such investments in Asia and the far east in the not necessarily so famous markets.For example its accquisition of Shin Corp.

It remains to be seen over the next few years on whether the government's bets fall through or as streetjunkie put it to me 'its all a fad!".

And its the MidEast to the rescue

2008-01-16T10:51:00.000-05:00

Got Financial crunch?Does the term sub-prime mortgage scare you? And last but certainly the most important question of them all...Are you a top tier investment bank that doesn't seem like it going to remain up there?

Say no more..oil rich middle east is out to save the day..the consortium of Kuwait Investment Authority(KIA), AbuDhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) and Prince Walid Bin Talal (ever notice we hear more about him than the company itself-Kingdom Holdings for the late bloomers-of which he owns like 96%-ok so that explains it!) have decided to bail out the troubled US banks Citigroup and Merril Lynch to the tune of USD$ 15billion.

The Prince has already a significant stake in Citi and he has now pushed it to the maximum possible by US regulatory standards.

So where is this all heading?Layoffs? certainly..stock dip? 4 suree..but most likely burning in the minds of 'local' investors is how much of the piece remains local anymore.Will it be long before Washington steps in says enough is enough.The landmark american act of lazy borrowing has to end to cease this sad state of affairs.

Reliance Power's $3billion IPO..

2008-01-15T11:58:00.000-05:00

Word has it that the $3billion IPO was oversubscribed 10 times! The Anil Ambani group's IPO generated a demand of close to Rs 100,000 crore ($25.2billion) within four hours of start of the book building process.

Anil Ambani, one of India's billionaire Ambani brothers, couldn't pick a better time for an initial public offering of his Reliance Power Ltd., an electrical-generation company. Four publicly traded companies that he controls all turned in market- beating performances last year.

Rivalries aside, the past year has seen been exceptionally great to both Anil and elder brother Mukesh (getting them both on the Forbes Top 5 list).

Speaking of which , Mukesh was here in Kuwait on Jan 11th at the National Bank of Kuwait as a apart of their International Advsiory Board.[link]

And We're Back!!!

2008-01-15T11:47:00.000-05:00

work ...travel...net issues...the list of excuses will go on for not updating this blog.But atleast we live to tell the story.

This blog is back on..

Du Telecom- Convergence is here

2006-04-13T16:02:00.000-04:00

Du (short for Dubai) Telecom[link], which received its license approval from the Ministry of Telecommunications in the UAE to become the second ever telco operator has been in the news quite a bit.While most papers carry tidbits on potential rivalry with Etisalat, what sparked interest to me is the media convergence environment that they plan to offer. Video, Voice & Data as is know in the States and other parts of the world is a tried and successfuly tested formula. This opens up a whole new market to consumers who will get to see a single bill -less hassle system put in place.

Du's IPO has also been well talked about.UAE banks will start returning more than $100 billion to investors who subscribed to the record-breaking initial public offering.The Dh2.4 billion du IPO, which was 167 times oversubscribed, and a simultaneous offering by mortgage lender Tamweel sucked the equivalent of 1-1/2 times the UAE's annual gross domestic product out of investors' wallets.

Nokia meanwhile has won a $190 mn managed service contract from Du.

Its not surprising that deregulation has started happening in this zone.Its just the question of how late this is considering the peripheral developments happening here.

Du is ambitious about taking over 30% of the market over the next 3 years.

DDT: Dubai Diamond Trade

2006-04-08T14:02:00.000-04:00

USD$3.74 billion is the value put forth by the diamond trade consortium in Dubai - a record increase by roughly 47%.At present, the diamond jewellery available in Dubai offers quality, creative designs, wide range of choice and exchangeability options which has also boosted the demand of rough diamonds as more and more jewellers are venturing into diamond jewellery business which is in huge demand in the UAE and region.

Dubai holds one of the three international exchanges for diamonds under the patronage of Dubai Diamond Exchange (DDE).Dubai Diamond Exchange's greatest contribution to the industry however, has been in its effort to implement international best practice in the local diamond industry by creating transparent policies, a well established legal framework and a strong regulatory environment.

Lucent+ Alcatel = Lucatel ?

2006-04-07T16:18:00.000-04:00

So its finally happening..the merger of equals (yea right!!) . of two telecom giants.Its been reported that the merger would involve a USD $13.4bn stock-swap.Although touted as a merger of equals, Alcatel shareholders will have 60% of the combined firm.The new company's HQ will however be out of Lucents current HQ in New Jersey.

The company hasn't settled on a new name as yet, but could perhaps call in former HP CEO Carly Fiorina for help. While working at AT&T, Fiorina brought Lucent to life, picking out the company's monicker and logo and selling it to Wall Street. Lucent's $3bn April 1996 IPO was the biggest one in history to that point.

So far so good..they have a plan to bring in two lagging companies to form a single effective leading mammoth.Lucent has been having a real bad time since 2001 (ever-famous layoffs!), while Alcatel hasnt done that great in the past year.If cost savings are acheived as they claim and if they strike out a great working relationship (keep in mind its across the atlantic-plus this is a yankee-french deal), Juniper, Cisco all might just wanna watch out..

The two companies have penciled in quite the cushion to close the deal, expecting it to take anywhere between six months to a year to finalize.

UAE to allow unions

2006-04-04T15:52:00.000-04:00

And so it seems the power of the People is finally coming to accepatance in the emirates.Ofcourse its probably going to be a year or so until it becomes a law, but construction workers can heave a sigh of relief . And rightly so; were it not for these men, would there be a Dubai as we know it? I think not! (and so should you).

The UAE is probably the first GCC state to atleast come up with something to the extent of allowing controlled unions (strikes will not be allowed). While human rights activists may heavily criticize the Emirates for abusing the rights of underpaid laborers , it should be noted that part of this is truly the instrument of the economic/construction boom in the area. In other words, the labor exploitation that happens on in the rest of the middle east hardly goes noticed.

The emirates has been a precursor of change in the region no doubt. Qatar , Bahrain and now Kuwait have started new city developments based on the stellar success of the UAE. Maybe these countries can also take a lesson from their Law Books as well.

Project Management

2006-04-03T13:52:00.000-04:00

I recently completed a coursework in Project Management .So here are few funnies from the powers that be of PM:

Good estimators aren't modest: if it's huge they say so.

The sooner you begin coding the later you finish.

A verbal contract isn't worth the paper it's written on.

What is not on paper has not been said.If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there.

If you fail to plan you are planning to fail.If you don't attack the risks, the risks will attack you.

A little risk management saves a lot of fan cleaning.

The sooner you get behind schedule, the more time you have to make it up.

A badly planned project will take three times longer than expected - a well-planned project only twice as long as expected.

If you can keep your head while all about you are losing theirs, you haven't understood the plan.When all's said and done a lot more is said than done.

If at first you don't succeed, remove all evidence you ever tried.

Feather and down are padding - changes and contingencies will be real events.

There are no good project managers - only lucky ones.

The more you plan the luckier you get.

A project is one small step for the project sponsor, one giant leap for the project manager.

Good project management is not so much knowing what to do and when, as knowing what excuses to give and when.

If everything is going exactly to plan, something somewhere is going massively wrong.

Verizon EV-DO:Pay-as-you-go

2006-03-31T14:31:00.000-05:00

A friend of mine in Charlotte,NC who works with VZ wireless pointed me to their latest announcement.Basically theyr offering daily rates ($15/24 hrs) along the lines of pay-as-you-go to laptops that have EVDO (Evolution-Data Optimized) embedded capabilities. [link]

This concept may not be new, but its certainly interesting.Firstly, a service like this can be a initiated without having to run to the local friendly(?) Verizon wireless store. Secondly the service can be a litmus test for a customer who may then consider switching to a monthly plan( I personally think no one loses here). Thirdly for a person like me who travels infrequently(atleast these days thank you very much), this is more like a prayer answered.The sheer dynamic nature (read as taking it on the road) of the service is in itself appealing , not to mention the secure and better alternative that it is to Wi-fi (which would anyways cost me around the same).Finally Verizon seems to be doing something right. Now if they would only do something about them deadzones in the City....

Text Messaging- Commercial Mantra

2006-03-27T05:14:00.000-05:00

While the idea of using SMS text to send promotional mobile marketing messages direct to consumers is garnering growing interest among a wide range of marketers - due to the always-on, always-at-hand, ubiquitious nature of the one-to-one medium - successful, large scale implementations of this type of customer acquisition activity have been few and far between to date (both in Europe and the US).
Most brand marketers, beyond mobile operators, handset manufacturers and retailers, mobile content providers and a few radio stations, have had limited success in persuading consumers to opt-in, by offering up their mobile numbers and permission, in exchange for the occasional offer or promo delivered to their handset. Jupiter estimates spend on SMS mobile marketing to reach a total of €111 million by the end of 2006 across Europe. Small fry in comparison to the explosion in paid search, for example, which will total €1.6 billion by the end of this year!
This might soon change however with an interesting new development from Miva in the UK. The pay-per-performance contextual ad network has just launched a new pay-per-text service in collaboration with The Number's 118 118. At present when a consumer dials up the directory enquiry service to find out the details of a company or service provider they are delivered the details back as a text message. With this new advertising platform relevant and related marketers will be able to add a couple of lines of additional text promoting their complimentary service. So taxi services could be promoted alongside restaurant details. Or car hire services alongside airline details. Or home insurance against emergency plumbers. This sounds like a win / win for both advertisers and consumers. The advertiser gets directly in front of interested consumers, when actively searching a related business, while the consumer gets added value information, non-intrusively incorporated into their text message, that they are happy to receive.
This new type of co-branding / sponsorship advertising model could help drive investment in the SMS channel. It could also help boost the revenues of directory enquiry businesses - 118 118 texts tens of millions of directory callers with their details every year!

GM Buyout

2006-03-25T01:16:00.000-05:00

The major business topic this week was the GM & Delphi early retirement buyout. GM will offer anywhere between $35K to $140K for employees to accept early retirement. Up to 30,000 workers are said to be affected by this action. Employees will receive pension and healthcare, but not at the same generous levels as they once were.
In my opinion, this move is necessary. The US auto industry is currently struggling to keep up with the challeneges of globalism. GM and Ford operated on a labor system that was invented before the dawn of globalism. Working at GM was once a road to the middle class. Through firm union control and leadership, GM passed profits down to its workers. However, with the advent of Toyota, Hyundai and other foreign car companies, GM is facing two problems. A 1960s style labor model and products that are simply out of touch with demand. Shutting down plants and cutting costs due to lower demand is necessary therefore. However, the long term success of GM will lie in the design of their cars and whether they anticipate customer preferences.

Situational Leadership

2006-03-24T14:27:00.000-05:00

Situational Leadership happens to be one the most common topics in an interview.I was speaking to a colleague of mine recently, who said that one the interview that he had for this job had some of this involved.He was asked how he would react to a situation of disagreementwith a co-worker over a project.He probably had a good answer(thats why hes got the office with a view i might add). Some people are fine if you just directly oppose them. Other people don't deal well with that, and you need to ask questions that get them to realize on their own why they are wrong.Most of my answers were this way, and towards the end of the interview someone in the room asked if I had received "situational leadership" training, because that is the approach I seemed to take. I have not. But I think he is right - I am a situational leader.New management fads come out every year. I always read up on them, but disagree with much of what they say. Many of these books always make management and leadership seem so simple, and imply that if you just focus on one thing (the fad) then you will be a great manager. I don't think that is true. Management and leadership are complex because people are complex. Rather than stick to one style or form, leaders should be able to analyze a situation and determine what type of response is best given the parties involved.I bring this up because I often get tired of seeing these fad books every year, and sometimes I think I should just quit reading all that crap. But now I see it in a little bit different light. Each fad, each style, each book, has some truths in it, and I try to go through it with an open mind and take away what is important. I'm building my own management and leadership philosophies that are difficult to put into words, but will (I hope) serve me well one day.

Google Finance: First Review

2006-03-22T14:48:00.000-05:00

Ok Ok..so now we have a competitor to Yahoo! Finance. Is there an uproar? Google claims(and its probably true) that people have been asking for a finance portal since its early days but were trying to perfect it.What has been the effect so far?

From a consumer perspective,this has not been an earth-shattering event. True, Google Finance has a slicker interface. For one, searching a stock is easier than it is with Yahoo as you are not required to specify whether it’s a company name or a stock ticker that you are entering. In addition, you can drag the stock’s graph thereby changing the time-period that you are looking at. However, Google’s offering is currently limited to stock research, whereas Yahoo’s offering is much more extensive and includes rich financial education and advice. In addition, Yahoo offers some original content, which Google doesn’t.
In summary, it will be interesting to see how this service evolves. For now, it’s just another place where consumers can research stocks.

IPTV stuff

2006-03-22T14:43:00.000-05:00

Some people expressed interest in the IPTV segment.

- Frost & Sullivan says that "IPTV may not be an immediate success throughout Europe." Given that IPTV launched in Italy in 2001 and has been available in Germany, France, and the UK for several years now, and still less than a million European households used it in 2005, I'd say it already *wasn't* an immediate success. But we still expect it to become a significant part of the DTV market over the next several years.
- Deutsche Telekom has chosen Microsoft to power its T-Online multichannel IPTV offering, launching this summer. I noticed last week at CeBITthat the T-Online demo was running un-branded MSFT software, even though Deutsche Telekom refused to confirm it for me at the time. (See, that's why I should keep up to date on my blog, so I can break cool news.) Today, MSFT spilled the beans.

Note that in the press release, Steve Ballmer is quoted talking about how this service will exist in both Germany and France. Think MSFT is annoyed that the big French IPTV players don't use their technology?

Finally- An Energy Bourse for the Mideast

2006-03-21T11:50:00.000-05:00

Qatar has taken the giant step towards the establishment of an energy stock exchange- the first of its kind in the middle east.The deal was sealed with a MoU between the Qatar Financial Center Regulatory Authority and Gulf energy which is a global consortium of investors and consultants.

Gulf Energy "aims at raising the global stakes of Middle East's energy sector, reshaping the dynamics of its oil and gas business and expanding its role in the management of resources."

So far so good... Im wondering when certain governments (*choke*whitehouse)will intervene. If you think about it, a bourse of this magnitude will only encourage the rest of the oil nations to start their own and eliminate the middle man from the game (and theyr not bound to like it).

Slingbox- 'Place-Shifting' is here..

2006-03-19T15:12:00.000-05:00

My previous post on Mobile TVs led me to something I had seen last month.

So you got cable at home. Why not watch Your cable TV SOMEWHER ELSE? Ridiculous?? HELL No...Enter Slingbox [link]

Sling Media has created a device that sends a stream from your house to your computer over the internet. This isn’t your normal stream. Most streams are a one way open loop system that dumps content to you with very minimal control as a user. The Slingbox is a controlled stream. You have the ability to change your television channel or program your DVR remotely. Sling Media’s new toy is just getting started so buckle up and enjoy the ride.

All you need is high speed internet connection for ur laptop/PC. Sling Media has it for $249 a piece on their website.I found used ones (already!) for $197. I happened to see a demo box for the slingbox last month at Best Buy.While the design seemed ehh ok.. their capability simply amazed me.Theres even a user community on the web. [link]

The company also announced support for Ultra-Mobile PCs recently.

Mobile TVs...

2006-03-19T13:01:00.008-05:00

It seems like everyone wants a piece of the mobile phone/TV convergence world these days. Nokia Middle East is now introducing these in the Arabian countries.Testing market are Qatar and Kuwait.The first phones are expected in the middle of this year.

Mobile phone companies’ research indicates that subscribers would be prepared to pay around US$20 per month for access to digital broadcasts. Britain and France already offer a number of on-demand broadcasts to consumers, including high-profile channels such as CNN and Bloomberg.

Theres no doubt that the Middle East is an excellent target for such services, however I would like to see what the respective governments of each of the countries deploying them would do in order to prevent an increase in traffic accidents/deaths (which is already at alarming rates) from watching TV whilst driving.

What's Happening in Paris?

2006-03-19T03:03:00.000-05:00

For the second time in less than a year, France is experiencing another wave of riots. This one similar to the riots last December, involve youths protesting, at times violently, to make a point. Now I understand the reasons the December riots occurred - discrimination towards coloured youths, lack of employment opportunities, failure to integrate to mainstream society - but the reasons as to why the current riots are happening is perplexing. The students are protesting a law which, in my opinion, facilitates their chances of receiving employment. Students believe this law, which makes it easier to hire and fire workers under the age of 26, will destroy their future because they will be fired anytime an employer wants. While this may be true, France needs labor regulation changes to help it compete with the global market. With globalism, the French must realize that Socialism is a diminishing force that cannot both sustain itself and operate efficient markets. In addition, the students should realize that firing employees is the employer's last resort. It is not easy finding replacement workers, training them, and having them start from square one. Furthermore, since the law makes it easier to fire workers, it also therefore, makes it easier to hire people. With additional positions available, an educated, well-skilled student should not have much trouble obtaining a job. In the end, I think the core of this issue is Socialism. It defines French society and now is in the forefront more than ever as the future generations try desperately to preserve its values.

Takeover Season

2006-03-18T15:22:00.000-05:00

Boy this does seem to be the season of accquisitions- mergers take the back seat. Two more on the way.

Suzlon Energy- the wind power people from India have taken over Belgium based Hansen, the world's largest maker of wind turbine gearboxes, for US$565 mn in an all cash transaction.Barclays, Deutsche and ICICI bank acted on behalf of Suzlon while UBS acted on behalf of the sellers.Tulsi R. Tanti (Chairman- Suzlon) seems to be eyeing to get up there on the Forbes list alongside fellow Indian Lakshmi Mittal (ok-maybe not just yet)..but nevertheless, good going!

Meanwhile, after a speculation of takeover by various firms, Softbank is in the drivers seat in the take over of VodaFone's struggling japanese unit for a reported US$15bn - taking 15 mn customers in the process. Masayoshi Son, the brain child behind the successful internet service company is using this strategy to enter the mobile market without having to build infrastructure from scratch. KDDI and NTT DoCoMo better watch out !!

March of the Investment banks...

2006-03-18T14:29:00.000-05:00

On the occasion of its 150th anniversary, Credit Suisse announced its plan to enter the Saudi Arabia.CS will be collaborating with Olayan group and a few other investors to provide securities brokerage services.Interestingly enough, Saudi seems to be the first country where they intend to establish footprint. CS will be carrying out its services in accordance with Sharia regulations.

Middle east is going through a change, particularly in the conservative states; the open door policy to foreign investment banks is slowly but certainly happening. Countries like Kuwait have signed MoUs that would allow mid and top tier i-banks such as HSBC , Citigroup etc to establish portfolio management/asset management services.Local banks arent taking this lightly and have approached the government to provide them with guarantee of not being robbed of their monopoly.

Who does this really affect? Local companies ofcourse. They probably get the wider choice of world experience.For these companies, its a question of choosing between trusted(out of no choice) local banks versus the ones that might offer them incentives never thought of(or applied) before.On the individual level however, Me thinks the private investors are ALREADY working with the Goldman Sachs & the Morgan Stanleys of the world.

Body Shop -L'Oreal Deal closed for $1.14bn

2006-03-17T06:51:00.000-05:00

UK based Body Shop Intl. is being bought in an all cash deal based on L'Oreal's bid.
The Offer:300 pence ($5.25) per share for Body Shop-a premium of 34.2 percent over the Body Shop's current share price. [Link]

Kingdom Holdings to float 30% shares...

2006-03-17T03:07:00.000-05:00

The Saudi celebrity-prince AlWaleed Bin Talal, has announced yesterday that his company would float 30 percent of its shares on the Saudi bourse for public subscription this year.Kingdom Holdings will be investing SR10billion ($2.6 billion) in the Saudi stock market.

I cant wait to have my own stake in the Four Seasons Hotel .hehehe

Update: I just read this: "....However, since foreigners are not allowed to own individual Saudi stocks, only certain Saudi mutual funds, Kingdom Holdings will be off-limits to most international investors".BLAAASSTTT !!!

Playstation 3 out in November

2006-03-17T02:57:00.000-05:00

After months of speculation, Sony announced that the launch of its PlayStation 3 will be delayed until November. Since last summer, Sony has said the PS3 would launch in the spring. This seemed increasingly unlikely as the months went by and manufacturing hadn't started and game developers hadn't received final hardware. Sony revealed that the delay was necessary to finalize its new Blu-ray format's copy protection scheme.

With the hype surrounding it as well as the rumoured $900 tag price, you might be tempted to go for the Xbox 360- I like to call it Xbox with SP2. We wont know much about the playstation till E3 Conference in May where gaming industries honchos get-together.

I ll stick to PC games till then .

The Arabic iPod....

2006-03-15T10:54:00.000-05:00

The arab version of the ipod is slated to hit market in the next month.[Link]. The arab version of OS10 (codename: Tiger) is in the offing as well.

Im waiting for the sales report on the ipods.

Merck's 18bn USD bid on Schering

2006-03-15T03:32:00.000-05:00

The Offer: All cash bid @ 77 euros a share- 15% premium over Schering's current stock price. Not to sound bashy, but me thinks schering's just might wait a bit longer to get the market price up to renegotiate the deal -it already has started going up! [Link]

Update: Schering's board reject's bid.Apparently the price wasn't right!

McAfee Woes...

2006-03-14T11:08:00.000-05:00

Being in the technology sector by profession has forced me to deviate to this posting. A recent update to a number of McAfees' products went terribly awry, causing them to flag hundreds of legitimate third-party programs as hostile and prompting users to delete or quarantine them. The files identified by McAfee as malicious included excel.exe (Microsoft Excel) and gtb2k1033.exe (Google Toolbar installer), as well as programs that run Macromedia Flash Player, Sun's Java application and Adobe update manager.
The wrong flags even apply to updaterui.exe, McAfee's own auto-update program.(Kicking myself....is that the new polciy mcafee?) The full list of programs wrongly marked as bad is here in PDF format. (Only file names, not the product names)

The SANS Internet Storm Center has a decent writeup on the problem.

McAfee's solution for customers is interesting: "Users who have moved detected files to quarantine should restore them to their original location. Windows users who have had files deleted should restore files from backup or use System Restore."

How many got fired from Mcafee? How many of you Mcafee employees got a red signal reading their access badges next day morning?

..... ok this should be a pacifier for now ...till the next time I return with more tech woes.

KSE on a Free Fall......

2006-03-14T06:05:00.000-05:00

Case in point- the wrath of the stock market cannot be curbed even by one of the strongest economy's in the world [ LINK ]

First Post!

2006-03-13T23:20:00.000-05:00

Whats up everyone! I am currently in strategic analysis in NYC and am starting this blog with streetjabber to chat about what's going on in the corporate world. This'll be interesting because we will have the opportunity to compare developments from Middle Eastern / Asian organizations to the developments occuring here (US). Most of all, we'll learn how businesses operate and follow their strategies from a multitude of perspectives.

All Good things have a begininning...

2006-03-13T17:09:00.000-05:00

Ok! So here we go ..The very first blog for StreetJab. Sunny will be blogging out of downtown Manhattan , New York and urs truly the StreetJabber will be working out of Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Will someone break a glass or something ... ? Thank you very much !!!