Dubai developer Damac is in pole position to buy troubled Italian fashion group Roberto Cavalli, a source close to the matter said on Wednesday, Reuters reported. Two other binding offers for the whole group have been submitted by Italy’s Diesel-owner OTB and U.S. brand management company Bluestar Alliance, the source said. Last Friday Cavalli said it had received five offers for the brand. The company and its private equity owner Clessidra both declined to comment.
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Three additional former executives of The Abraaj Group were charged in New York in a fraud investigation into the firm’s collapse last year that was the world’s biggest private-equity insolvency, Bloomberg News reported. Former Chief Financial Officer Ashish Dave, former Managing Director Rafique Lakhani and former Managing Director Waqar Siddique were charged with multiple counts including fraud and conspiracy, in an indictment unsealed Thursday. James Margolin, a spokesman for Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman, declined to say whether any of the men are in custody.
The Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) has enacted a new insolvency law which it said meets international best practice guidelines, International Adviser reported. The new Insolvency Law and Regulations, which comes into effect on 13 June 2019, creates a new debtor in possession bankruptcy regime which it said will place the DIFC “at the forefront of complicated debt restructurings”. Essa Kazim, governor of DIFC, said: “Ensuring that businesses and investors can operate across the region with confidence is crucial to our role in connecting the economies of East and West.
Dubai’s ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum issued a new insolvency law on Tuesday for companies operating in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), the largest financial hub in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia, Reuters reported. The new law, due to come into effect in August, has been issued following the collapse of Dubai-based private equity firm Abraaj, which had a DIFC-regulated entity Abraaj Capital.
Middle Eastern carrier Etihad Airways has submitted a bid for a stake in India’s Jet Airways, the unit of State Bank of India (SBI) overseeing the sale of the stricken airline said on Friday, Reuters reported. SBI had invited binding bids for a stake in the airline, which is saddled with roughly $1.2 billion in bank debt. Binding offers were due by 1800 IST (1230 GMT) on Friday. Etihad, which already holds a minority stake in Jet, is interested in re-investing in the airline, subject to certain conditions, a spokesman for the Middle Eastern carrier said earlier on Friday.
Arif Naqvi, the founder of buyout fund Abraaj Group, was denied bail by a London judge Friday after prosecutors said he may flee to Pakistan rather than face U.S. fraud charges, Bloomberg News reported. Judge Emma Arbuthnot denied Naqvi’s request after prosecutors said the 58-year-old wrote down the phone number of the Pakistani president when he was arrested earlier this month. Naqvi appeared at Westminster Magistrates Court for the latest stage of his extradition battle following his arrest this month on American charges of defrauding investors.
An entity set up to finance affiliates of Etihad Airways PJSC said Jet Airways India Ltd. has become the third carrier in the group to fall behind on interest payments, Bloomberg News reported. EA Partners I, a vehicle created in 2015 to allow Etihad to provide funds to airlines in which it owned stakes, said in a statement that the Indian carrier failed to make a payment on March 19 on account of "temporary liquidity constraints." Etihad set up two vehicles, EA Partners I and II, which sold $1.2 billion of bonds to raise funds for several airlines.
Liquidators from Deloitte LLP, overseeing the break up of Abraaj Group’s private-equity unit, are asking the Dubai firm’s investors for additional legal protection and more money, the latest complication in the proposed sale of Abraaj’s assets, The Wall Street Journal reported. Representatives of the accounting firm have asked Abraaj backers for assurances that it won’t be sued over its role in the sale of some of the private-equity firm’s Africa and Middle East funds, people with direct knowledge of the insolvency process said.
Jet Airways Ltd said here on Monday it has grounded four more planes and would delay paying interest on maturing debt in a fresh sign of deepening liquidity crisis engulfing the Indian carrier saddled with over $1 billion debt, Reuters reported. India's second-largest carrier has delayed payments to its pilots, suppliers and lessors for months and defaulted on loans, as it battles intensifying competition, a weak rupee and rising fuel costs. The airline said it will delay paying interest to its debenture holder, due March 19, owing to financial constraints.
Etihad Airways posted a loss of $1.28 billion in 2018, extending the deficit over three years to $4.8 billion, as the Gulf carrier pushes ahead with a cost-cutting plan to stabilize the balance sheet, Bloomberg News reported. The Abu Dhabi company, which has abandoned an attempt to build a global network of airline investments after a string of failures, canceled a further nine unprofitable routes last year, it said in an emailed statement Thursday. The review is ongoing and comes alongside a reduced delivery of new planes, with deals to slash $21.4 billion of orders agreed with Boeing Co.