United Arab Emirates

Philip Day’s retail empire could be broken up after the tycoon launched a review of high street chains including Peacocks and the Edinburgh Woollen Mill following a number of unsolicited offers, the Financial Times reported. Mr Day, who has made a fortune by buying and restructuring distressed retail businesses, has received interest from potential bidders for all or part of value fashion chain Peacocks and his collection of “heritage brands”, which includes Jaeger, Austin Reed and Jacques Vert.

Determining how much debt Dubai’s government has amassed depends on who’s counting, Bloomberg News reported. What is less in dispute is that the uncertainty comes at a cost. Unlike the government, Moody’s Investors Service and S&P Global Ratings include Dubai’s local bank borrowings to make the calculation, arriving at an estimate of about 290 billion dirhams ($79 billion). The debt burden could equal 77% of this year’s gross domestic product, according to S&P, comparable with what the International Monetary Fund predicts for South Africa and just behind Oman.

An Indian court has issued a second arrest warrant for a marine refuelling tanker owned by troubled UAE oil trader GP Global after it failed to make payments to its ship manager, court documents showed, Reuters reported. On Sept. 10, the High Court of the western Indian state of Gujrat granted the vessel manager’s, Singapore-based Celestial Ship Management Pte Ltd, a request to arrest the GP B3 bunker tanker for unpaid dues, according to the court documents seen by Reuters.

An Indian court has ordered the seizure of a tanker belonging to Dubai-based oil trading firm GP Global after a petition from UAE lender National Bank of Fujairah over a loan default, a court document showed, Reuters reported. The Gujarat High Court directed the authorities of Pipavav Port on Sept. 9 to seize the company’s bunkering tanker, GP B3, and detain it until a further court order or until the outstanding loan amount of just over $2 million is paid, a court document seen by Reuters shows. The next hearing is on Sept. 17.

Dubai has hired banks to advise it on its comeback to the international debt markets as the Middle East trade and tourism hub seeks to bolster finances hit by the coronavirus pandemic, Reuters reported. It is planning to issue U.S. dollar-denominated 10-year Islamic bonds, or sukuk, and 30-year conventional bonds, a document issued by one of the banks leading the deal showed. Dubai Islamic Bank, Emirates NBD Capital, First Abu Dhabi Bank, HSBC, and Standard Chartered will arrange investor calls, which will begin on Monday, ahead of the potential debt offering.

The restructuring of NMC Health Plc through an Abu Dhabi court could cost as much as $140 million in consultancy and legal fees, almost half of what the hospital operator’s administrators are raising in new funding from creditors, Bloomberg News reported. “It’s not cheap and we have the best advisers and the best minds in the world working on the preservation of this business,” acting Chief Executive Officer Michael Davis said in a recent interview.

NMC Healthcare LLC plans to file for administration in Abu Dhabi, the UAE-based hospitals operator said on Wednesday, as it targets a three-year recovery plan involving a debt moratorium, debt restructuring and asset sales, Reuters reported. Its London-listed holding company NMC Health Plc is already being run by administrators Alvarez & Marsal after going into administration in April following months of turmoil over its finances. NMC Healthcare LLC plans to file for administration with the Abu Dhabi financial centre ADGM, it said in a presentation posted on its website on Wednesday.

Finablr, the payments group embroiled in an accounting scandal, said on Monday that founder BR Shetty would resign as director and co-chairman with immediate effect. The company, which grew out of a United Arab Emirates remittance house and is part of the Indian entrepreneur’s business empire, last month appointed law firm Skadden to help investigate potential wrongdoing and theft in relation to about £1bn of undisclosed debt discovered on its balance sheet earlier this year, the Financial Times reported.

Hospital operator NMC Health has secured a $250 million financing facility which will allow it to continue to provide healthcare, its administrators Alvarez & Marsal said, Reuters reported. The loan is conditional on a planned second-phase restructuring, Alvarez & Marsal said on Monday, after its London-listed holding company was forced into administration in April following months of financial turmoil.. The administrators said the restructuring would allow the funding to support operations and stop adverse creditor actions.

Hospital operator NMC Health is looking to raise up to $250 million in debt while it prepares for insolvency proceedings in the United Arab Emirates and has picked Perella Weinberg Partners to advise it on the process, sources said, Reuters reported. The company, run by administrators Alvarez & Marsal, has also tasked Perella to advise it on the sale of UK-based Aspen Healthcare, a company it acquired in 2018, the two sources familiar with the matter said.