North Africa/Middle East

Abraaj is meeting with creditors next week as the Dubai-based private equity company attempts to avoid potential liquidation proceedings that have complicated talks to sell to a strategic investor, the Financial Times reported. Kuwait’s Public Institution for Social Security (Pifss), one of its creditors, has filed a petition to liquidate Abraaj’s assets over its inability to repay a $100m loan due Sunday. Abraaj has been rocked since investors complained that it had mishandled money in its $1bn healthcare fund.

Bahrain should consider implementing corporate income tax to shore up its finances as rising interest rates hinder its ability to borrow, the International Monetary Fund said. “Notwithstanding notable measures implemented since 2015, a credibly large fiscal adjustment is a priority,” the IMF said in a report dated May 30, Bloomberg News reported. “The implementation of a value-added tax, as planned, would be important.

Kuwait’s pension fund is trying to force private-equity firm Abraaj Group into bankruptcy proceedings over allegedly not repaying a $100 million loan, according to a court document, upending efforts to save Dubai’s star investor, The Wall Street Journal reported. In a document filed May 22 in the Cayman Islands court system, Kuwait’s Public Institution for Social Security says Abraaj is “substantially insolvent” and unable to repay the loan and $7 million interest by the agreed upon date, which is Sunday.

Deutsche Bank has cut eight positions within its equities research team in Dubai as it moves to close the unit as part of a global scaling back of equities business, sources familiar with the matter said. The research analysts covered dozens of companies from Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Turkey, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story.

By most accounts, Dubai’s biggest bank got a good deal when it agreed to buy Turkey’s Denizbank AS for $3.2 billion. The question is whether that’s enough to make up for entering a market under pressure from all sides, Bloomberg News reported. Emirates NBD PJSC is buying the lender from Russia’s Sberbank at a time when the country is struggling with a plunging currency, a wave of debt restructurings, looming elections and political meddling in the finance industry. The purchase is both Turkey’s largest M&A deal since 2012 and the Dubai bank’s biggest acquisition.

Almost a year of claims, counterclaims and litigation is beginning to wind down for Dana Gas PJSC bondholders, including BlackRock Inc. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. The Sharjah, United Arab Emirates-based energy company reached a deal with its key bondholders on restructuring $700 million of sukuk, avoiding protracted litigation in two jurisdictions and ending a dispute that fixated the Islamic finance industry, Bloomberg News reported. A committee representing bondholders agreed on terms that offer two options to creditors, including one involving full repayment, the company said Sunday.

Dana Gas PJSC has reached an agreement with key holders of $700 million of its Islamic bonds to restructure the securities, two people with knowledge of the matter said, possibly ending a legal battle that has unnerved the Islamic finance industry, Bloomberg News reported. A committee representing sukukholders, which include BlackRock Inc. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc., agreed to accept an immediate cash payout of 20 cents to the dollar and to roll the rest into a three-year security, said the people, asking not to be identified because the information isn’t public.

Saudi Arabia’s efforts to ease the burden on ordinary citizens from its promised economic overhaul are taking a toll on its balance sheet, Bloomberg News reported. The increase in the kingdom’s spending on wages and social benefits during the first quarter exceeded what it accrued through higher taxes and lower subsidies, driving the deficit higher to 34.3 billion riyals ($9.2 billion), from 26.2 billion riyals a year ago, according to a quarterly Finance Ministry report.

Swiss prosecutors have launched criminal proceedings against two officials at PetroSaudi International Ltd. related to alleged dealings with Malaysian state investment fund 1Malaysia Development Bhd, an escalation of the Swiss probe that started nearly three years ago, The Wall Street Journal reported. 1MDB is the subject of investigations in the U.S., Switzerland and other countries into allegations that billions of dollars were siphoned out of the fund, which was set up by Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak in 2009.

Etihad Airways PJSC intends to remain a major global carrier as it works on re-sizing its global business following record losses, according to new Chief Executive Officer Tony Douglas. The Persian Gulf company, which has built up a vast inter-continental route network and spent billions of dollars on plane purchases, has no intention of becoming a “boutique” operator and still aspires to being an “airline of choice,” Douglas said Monday in Abu Dhabi, where Etihad is based.