Luke_Wilbur Posted April 22, 2008 Report Share Posted April 22, 2008 While much of the economic activity is generated by the Asian funds, it is five Gulf Persian states--Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Qatar, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia—that account for nearly half of the world sovereign wealth funds assets. Within the past several months these nations have purchased major assets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gal Luft Posted April 23, 2008 Report Share Posted April 23, 2008 A quick review of the past several months’ roster of those countries’ acquisitions provides a glimpse into the scale of things to come. Prior to injecting $7.5 billion into the distressed Citigroup, Abu Dhabi’s fund, sized at $900 billion, purchased a $622-million stake in AMD, the world's second largest chip manufacturer, and bought 7.5 percent of the Carlyle Group. Dubai, an emirate of only one million people, bought 22 percent of the London Stock Exchange (an additional 24 percent of the Exchange was bought by Qatar), 20 percent of Nasdaq, as well as portions of Deutsche Bank, the British bank HSBC, Euronext stock exchange, the huge hedge fund Och-Ziff Capital Management, Daimler, Sony Corp., MGM Mirage and the luxury retailer Barneys. Kuwait’s Investment Authority injected billons to both Citigroup and Merrill Lynch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LAW_* Posted April 23, 2008 Report Share Posted April 23, 2008 On the flip side. ConocoPhillips expects to announce shortly that it will be working on Abu Dhabi National Oil Company's $10 billion sour gas project. Sour gas is natural gas or any other gas containing significant amounts of hydrogen sulfide. http://www.adnoc.ae The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Arabic: شركة بترول أبوظبي الوطنية) or ADNOC is the state-owned oil company of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), with access to over 90% of that country's oil and gas reserves, considered to be the world's fourth largest (137 billion Barrels of oil as of June 2007). http://www.conocophillips.com ConocoPhillips Company (NYSE: COP) is an international energy corporation with its headquarters located in Houston, Texas. It was created through the merger of Conoco Inc. and the Phillips Petroleum Company on August 30, 2002. Headquarters are based in Houston, Texas in the United States, and offices are located worldwide. It is one of the six "supermajor" vertically integrated oil companies. http://www.government.ae/gov/en/index.jsp The United Arab Emirates (UAE) (Arabic: دولة الإمارات العربية المتحدة, transliteration: Dowlat Al-Imārāt al-‘Arabīyah al-Muttaḥidah) is a Middle Eastern federation of seven states situated in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula in Southwest Asia on the Persian Gulf, bordering Oman and Saudi Arabia. The seven states, termed emirates, are Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai, Fujairah, Ras al-Khaimah, Sharjah, and Umm al-Quwain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke_Wilbur Posted April 23, 2008 Author Report Share Posted April 23, 2008 I read that ConocoPhillips chairman, Jim Mulva, said the deal should be announced in the "next month or two", under which Conoco would be working with Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc), the UK's Financial Times (FT) reported on Tuesday. You will see in the near future a shifting of wealth from the United States and Europe to OPEC nations. These nations allow very little business investment as a whole to America. But, they are able to freely invest in America. Currently foreign investors are only permitted to own a maximum of 49% of a UAE company. In certain areas of the financial sector, such as insurance, the limit on foreign ownership is as low as 25%. Hussain Al Nowais, Abu Dhabi Council for Economic Development board member, said current UAE laws needed to be changed to meet the increasing numbers foreigners intending to invest here, UAE daily Emirates Business 24/7 reported on Tuesday. "There were proposals to push the rate of foreign ownership up from the current 49% to 51%, 60% and 70%, but some sectors might need a higher rate," he said, quoted the newspaper. Full foreign ownership is allowed in the UAE, but it is restricted to free zones such as Dubai Media City (DMC), Dubai Internet City (DIC) and the Jebel Ali Free Zone. The UAE Minister of Economy Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansouri said there was nothing to be feared from foreign investment. "As long as this investment [by foreign investors] is useful for the country, why should foreigners not own these projects, especially if these business projects involve a huge amounts of capital, and big companies and countries compete for them," the newspaper quoted him as saying. "We have a lot of raw materials, especially in the petrochemical sector, which we export to China and Japan. Then we buy them back after manufacturing at a huge cost. If we set up industries for these materials in Abu Dhabi, we would make huge profits," Al Nuwais said, quoted the newspaper. All this looks good, but protectionism is currently in place. These nations are looking for economic independence from the United States and Europe. Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar and Bahrain have pledged to maintain the currency pegs to the dollar until the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) achieves monetary union as early as 2010. The Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (CCASG; Arabic: مجلس التعاون لدول الخليج العربية), also known as the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC; مجلس التعاون الخليجي) is a trade bloc involving the six Arab states of the Persian Gulf with many economic and social objectives. Created on May 25, 1981, the Council comprises the Persian Gulf states of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The unified economic agreement between the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council was signed on November 11, 1981 in Riyadh. These countries are often referred to as Gulf Cooperative Countries. http://www.gcc-sg.org/eng/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Always Red Posted April 23, 2008 Report Share Posted April 23, 2008 No doubt. Kuwait dropped the dollar last year. They stated the greenback was weakening their economy. Soon after they posted a whopping 72.2 billion dollar revenue and 127% budget surplus. So much for gratefulness. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gal Luft Posted April 23, 2008 Report Share Posted April 23, 2008 With soaring oil prices, Middle Eastern governments will have the ability to buy any global company, create panic in markets at a whim and to increasingly use financial holding as a means of extortion and overt intimidation if and when political differences emerge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LAW_* Posted April 23, 2008 Report Share Posted April 23, 2008 Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, commonly known as Prince Al-Walid owns Alwaleed is the largest single foreign investor in the U.S. economy, with interests in almost everything that touches the American lifestyle. The Prince owns a substantial tranche of shares in Citicorp in the 1990s when that firm was in difficulties. With an initial investment of $550 million to bail out Citibank caused by under performing American real estate loans and Latin American businesses, his holdings in Citigroup now comprise half of his wealth worth US$10 billion. He has also made large investments in AOL, Apple Inc., Worldcom, Motorola, News Corporation Ltd and other technology and media companies. His real estate holdings have included large stakes in the Four Seasons hotel chain and the Plaza Hotel in New York. He sold half of his shares in the latter in August 2004. He has made investments in London's Savoy Hotel and Monaco's Monte Carlo Grand Hotel. He currently holds a 10% stake in Euro Disney SCA, the organization which manages and maintains the Disneyland Resort Paris in Marne-la-Vallee, France. Invited Christina Macaluso to the opening of the Plaza in New York. As of 2007, he was believed to be in talks with Robert Earl, founder of Planet Hollywood. As of 2008, there are plans for the $10 billion construction of the Burj Al-Meel, a supertall skyscraper to be the tallest in the world, at one mile (1600m) in height. It is an interesting note that the Saudi Prince now holds 5.46 percent of Fox’s parent company News Corp. Two years ago, the prince boasted that he had personally called News Corp’s chairman Rupert Murdoch to complain about Fox's coverage of the riots in France. Since the riots were carried out by Muslims the network rightly labeled them as "Muslim riots." Alwaleed said he “picked up the phone and called Murdoch to tell him these are not Muslim riots, these are riots out of poverty. Within 30 minutes the title was changed from 'Muslim riots' to 'civil riots’." http://thinkprogress.org/2005/12/12/saudi-...-calls-murdoch/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Pissed Off Posted April 24, 2008 Report Share Posted April 24, 2008 Amen. We Americans are feel the pain of paying $3.51 a gallon. Our wonderful friend Saudi Arabia pays an average of $0.91 a gallon. The country we liberated, Kuwait pays only and average of $0.78. per gallon of gasoline. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LAW_* Posted April 24, 2008 Report Share Posted April 24, 2008 Saudi Arabia is planning a big expansion in refining capacity to meet local demand. It is also focusing on rapidly expanding its petrochemical industry. What are petrochemicals? Petrochemicals are chemicals made from petroleum or natural gas, and are the most essential materials in the industry. They are used in products such as detergents, fertilizers, medicines, paints, plastics, synthetic fibres, and synthetic rubber. Primary petrochemicals are divided into three groups depending on their chemical structure: Olefins - include ethylene, propylene, and butadiene. Ethylene and propylene are important sources of industrial chemicals and plastics products. Butadiene is used in making synthetic rubber. Aromatic petrochemicals - include benzene, toluene, and xylenes. Benzene is used in the manufacture of dyes and synthetic detergents. Toluene is used in making explosives. Manufacturers use xylenes in making plastics and synthetic fibres. Synthesis gas - is a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, and is used to make the petrochemicals ammonia and methanol. Ammonia is used in making fertilizers and explosives whereas methanol serves as a source for other chemicals. http://www.gpca.org.ae/overview.asp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Robert Kuhn Posted May 5, 2008 Report Share Posted May 5, 2008 What happens when the world's largest pool of investable capital links with the world's largest population and fastest-growing large economy? Nothing less than a tectonic shift in global power. All economic players, especially American and European companies, will need to adapt to the nexus of the Gulf and China. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke_Wilbur Posted May 16, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 16, 2008 Mover of Disney, Dubailand is a massive new theme park being built in Dubia, United Arab Emirates. Dubailand is the vision of Dubai's current ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. The development is expected to be a full featured city divided into seven theme worlds. The short range goal of the Dubailand is to attract 15 million tourists to Dubai by 2010. Developers expect to accomplish this goal by creating a tourism, entertainment, and leisure destination that will attract visitors not only from surrounding countries but also from Europe and Asia. The venture is expected to attract approximately 200,000 visitors daily and cost $20 billion. Many believe Dubailand is a long-term plan to phase out the city's dependence on oil revenues, though 95% of Dubai's annual GDP comes from non-oil sectors such as tourism. When complete the project will be five times the size of Manhattan and include multiple parks. Themed attractions will include Universal Studios, Dreamworks Animation, Legoland, Six Flags, SeaWorld, Aquatica, Discovery Cove, and Busch Gardens. It's rumored that money is no object on these projects. It's no wonder Disney is having problems finding enough talent to revamp their California Adventure. Who likes being on billion dollar budget? Will Dubia be the new family vacation mecca? I am sure Dan "the Man" Snyder will make some serious money off the deal. http://www.dubailand.ae/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Sudha Hemmad Posted May 18, 2008 Report Share Posted May 18, 2008 Dubai diamond trade poised for further growth with expansion of diamond banking facilities The extensive campaign by Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC) to promote diamond banking activities in Dubai has begun to produce positive results with HSBC establishing a diamond banking unit to finance the local and regional diamond trade. Jean Van der Donckt, Director, Diamond Finance, DMCC, said: "Diamond trade in the UAE has witnessed tremendous growth in the past few years with trade volumes expected to touch to US$13.5 billion this year, up from US$11.5 billion in 2007. However, ready access to diamond financing is crucial in order to translate transshipment trade through Dubai's ports into physical trade within the Emirate. "The diamond trade is extremely capital-intensive, and recent studies estimate local diamond banking needs in excess of USD 2 billion, with finance being sought for all activities. We congratulate HSBC for taking the lead in providing efficient diamond financing services to the trade, and urge other banks to consider setting up similar units," he added. Ajay Bhandoola, Head of Diamonds & Precious Metals, HSBC Bank Middle East Ltd said: "We at HSBC are pleased to have been able to respond positively to the initiative of the DMCC and the Diamond and Jewellery community. With the initiatives of the government we do believe that Dubai has enormous potential and growth opportunities in this sector. We are very keen to work with the DMCC and the diamond, jewellery and precious metals community to develop Dubai into a major Global centre for Diamonds and Precious Metals. HSBC's new unit will provide a full range of financial services to this sector to be able to add value to the industry. In addition to a range of innovative financing solutions including import credits, working capital and receivables financing HSBC will also be able to offer factoring services and Precious metals hedging and physical services to meet the needs of the entire supply chain. In addition to providing advisory and counselling services that facilitate local bankers to set up and promote diamond banking activities in Dubai, DMCC has launched various initiatives to further develop the physical infrastructure and ancillary services and support Dubai's diamond trade. DMCC's flagship Almas Tower will house over 350 international diamond companies, further increasing the need for diamond banking facilities. Notes and contacts About DMCC DMCC was created in 2002 as a strategic initiative of the Dubai Government to establish a commodity marketplace in Dubai. Rated 'A' by Standard & Poor's, it provides the market infrastructure that brings together a wide range of commodities activities, and is committed to serve the needs of participants in the gold, diamonds and commodities markets. Resident companies of DMCC are offered highly attractive benefits under a free zone status, including a 50-year guaranteed tax holiday, 100 per cent business ownership, full ownership of business premises, and a secure regulated environment. HSBC Bank Middle East Limited HSBC is the largest and most widely represented international bank in the Middle East. HSBC Bank Middle East Limited has 37 branches throughout the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Jordan, Lebanon and the Palestinian Autonomous Area. In addition to the branch network the Bank maintains representative offices in Tehran, Iran and Tripoli, Libya. This extensive regional coverage is strengthened by another member of the HSBC Group, HSBC Bank Egypt SAE, and by its associated companies, The Saudi British Bank, British Arab Commercial Bank Limited, and HSBC Saudi Arabia Limited. Contact Details Name Sudha Hemmad Company ASDA’A Public Relations Telephone 971 4 3355969 Email s.hemmad@asdaa.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts