The United Arab Emirates central bank on Sunday said that it stood behind domestic and foreign banks operating in Dubai after last week’s announcement that Dubai World needed more time to pay back some of its $60 billion in debt, The New York Times reported. Dubai surprised the financial world on Wednesday when it said it would ask creditors of Dubai World, the conglomerate behind its rapid expansion, to agree to a six-month standstill on the debt. Global markets sank on the news.
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A Saad Group subsidiary says it is unable to make payments on a US$650 million (Dh2.38 billion) Islamic bond maturing in 2012, The National reported. Saad Trading, Contracting and Financial Services, part of the struggling family-owned conglomerate based in Saudi Arabia, said yesterday it was “impossible for the issuer to perform its payment obligations under the sukuk”. It made the disclosure in a statement to the Bahrain Stock Exchange, where the Golden Belt 1 sukuk is listed.
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Kuwait's Investment Dar, the Islamic financial firm that owns half of British luxury carmaker Aston Martin, plans to present a proposed debt restructuring plan to creditors this month, the company said Sunday. The meetings organized by Dar and the nine-member Coordinating Committee representing creditors will take place in Kuwait and Dubai on November 24 and November 25 respectively, the company said in a statement. The creditors will have a period of time to review and approve the plan after the meetings, Dar said.
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Creditors of companies that go bust in the Emirates are likely to be paid less than in most other Arab countries, creating a deterrent to investment, says a report from the World Bank, The National reported. Policymakers in the country have been urged to focus their efforts on reforming the UAE’s insolvency framework to lay the foundations for a better business environment. Creditors get an average of 10.2 cents (37 fils) in the dollar if a company in the UAE files for bankruptcy, data from the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation shows.
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Administrators of Bahrain-based The International Bank Corporation (TIBC), owned by the heavily indebted Algosaibi Group, say they are confident they can repay creditors as doubts persist whether there are enough assets to meet obligations, Reuters reported. TIBC, owned by Saudi group Ahmad Hamad Algosaibi & Bros (AHAB), plays a key role in the corporate debt defaults of AHAB and Saad Group, involving an estimated $22 billion in obligations.
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In the most profound financial change in recent Middle East history, Gulf Arabs are planning – along with China, Russia, Japan and France – to end dollar dealings for oil, moving instead to a basket of currencies including the Japanese yen and Chinese yuan, the euro, gold and a new, unified currency planned for nations in the Gulf Co-operation Council, including Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait and Qatar, BusinessWeek reported.
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The Kuwait Islamic investment firm that owns half of British luxury car maker Aston Martin says it has appointed a chief officer to restructure its debts, BusinessWeek reported. The Investment Dar said in an announcement Sunday, the new manager, Mike Grant, brings to the company over 20 years of experience. The company is one of several Kuwaiti banks and investment houses to run into trouble as the global economic meltdown hammered this small oil-rich state in the Gulf.
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China unexpectedly ratcheted up pressure on the United States in a widening trade dispute on Sunday evening, taking steps toward imposing tariffs on American exports of automotive products and chicken meat in retaliation for President Obama’s decision late Friday to levy tariffs on tires, The New York Times reported.
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According to Lebanese media sources, Lebanese businessman and Hizbullah publishing executive Hajj Salah Ezzedine has declared bankruptcy, Al Bawaba reported. Ezzedine, from the town of Maaroub near the southern port city of Tyre, is the director of the Hizbullah-owned Dar Al-Hadi Publishing House, which has played a critical role in Hizbullah’s media campaign.
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Porsche on Thursday fired Wendelin Wiedeking, the high-profile chief executive who rejuvenated the nearly bankrupt sports car maker in the early 1990s but stumbled as a massive debt load torpedoed plans to take over the much larger Volkswagen concern, which will now absorb Porsche itself, The New York Times reported.
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