Billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd. is on a mission to reduce debt after racking up $76 billion in capital expenditure in the last five years, Bloomberg News reported. The conglomerate aims to be a zero-net-debt company in 18 months, Asia’s richest man told shareholders Monday. Aiding that effort would be a decision to sell 20% of Reliance’s oil-to-chemicals business to Saudi Arabian Oil Co., or Aramco, at an enterprise value of $75 billion. The company will also start preparing to list its retail and telecommunications units within five years, Ambani said.
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This isn’t the first time Saudi Arabia has deployed the whatever-it-takes weapon to beat back the bears. In May 2017, energy minister Khalid Al-Falih used that exact phrase when Brent crude had slipped below $50 a barrel, a Bloomberg View reported. It sparked a brief rally, followed by a brief dip again, that ultimately segued into a sustained march toward $86 by the fall of 2018. It’s different this time. As bleak as things seemed to OPEC in May 2017, the organization actually had some favorable trends going its way.
The startling collapse of Abraaj Group, the once-mighty Middle Eastern private equity firm, continues to reverberate, Bloomberg News reported. Regulators in Dubai, where the dealmaker is based, have imposed a record fine, and Abraaj founder Arif Naqvi and a clutch of senior executives face legal charges in the U.S. The scandal, meanwhile, has all but frozen fundraising by other Dubai-based buyout companies. The Dubai Financial Services Authority fined two Abraaj Group companies a combined $315 million for deceiving investors and misappropriating funds.
The cost of insuring exposure to Lebanon’s sovereign debt rose to a record high on Friday after the president warned of the risk of harsh financial measures from international institutions unless sacrifices were made to save the country from economic crisis, Reuters reported. Lebanon’s five-year credit default swaps (CDS) rose to 990 basis points (bps), up 33 bps from Thursday’s close, data from IHS Markit showed.
The number of distressed companies in Europe, the Middle East and Africa rose in the first half for the first time in more than two years, according to a report by Moody’s Investors Service, Bloomberg News reported. Moody’s list of distressed companies rose to 47 from 39 in the first half of the year, according to the report published on Thursday. It’s the first time the list increased since the end of 2016.
The Saudi Binladin Group is seeking a financial adviser for a restructuring of the group’s debt, which could range between $20 and $30 billion, sources familiar with the matter said. The move is the latest in state efforts to restructure the construction giant, in which the Saudi government took a roughly one-third stake from Bin Laden family members that were swept up in an anti-graft campaign that Riyadh launched in late 2017, Reuters reported.
The Lebanese government is deferring payments to contractors and public entities, improving the budget numbers but endangering a lifeline for businesses, Bloomberg News reported. Delayed payments for this year alone have exceeded $900 million, pushing the outstanding total to over $2 billion, according to a person familiar with the matter. The government owes contractors about $300 million, half of which was incurred in 2019, said Maroun Helo, head of the Lebanese Contractors Syndicate of Public Works and Buildings. Contractors are defaulting on debt, he said.
Dubai’s financial regulator fined Abraaj Group, the world’s biggest private equity insolvency to date, a record $315 million for deceiving investors and misappropriating their funds, Bloomberg News reported. The fines ordered by the Dubai Financial Services Authority come as Abraaj, once one of the world’s most influential emerging-market investors, faces legal action in the U.S.
Oman’s bond investors gained some respite this week as Fitch affirmed its rating for the indebted country and the government published encouraging deficit figures, potentially paving the way for the Gulf oil producer’s next debt sale, Reuters reported. Rated junk by all three major rating agencies, Oman has relied heavily on borrowing over the past few years to spur growth and refill its coffers – depleted because of lower oil prices.