United Arab Emirates

Investors in United Arab Emirates construction stocks can remember the good days -- when oil above $100 a barrel encouraged a seemingly endless stream of lucrative projects, Bloomberg News reported. Now, with crude priced at half that, companies are trying to rebuild their balance sheets. The downturn has translated into pain for investors in two of the largest construction companies in the U.A.E. Arabtec Holding Co. has slumped 90 percent from its May 2014 record, while Drake & Scull International P.J.S.C. is down 78 percent from its June 2014 peak.

Dana Gas PJSC will ask bondholders to accept changed terms on $700 million of debt coming due in October as the energy producer based in the United Arab Emirates seeks to restructure debt for the second time in five years, Bloomberg News reported. Holders of the Islamic bonds, or sukuk, should form a committee to represent them in the planned discussions, Sharjah, U.A.E.-based Dana Gas said Wednesday in a statement to the Abu Dhabi stock exchange.

UAE residents are hopeful that new bankruptcy legislation will ease the burden on small business owners. After years of deliberations, in December the federal government introduced an insolvency law to ease the orderly unwinding of bankrupt companies, including protections for debtors. The law — still untested because of its newness — stays proceedings on bounced cheques if the debtor is in a court-approved insolvency process, the Financial Times reported.

Emirates, the world's biggest long-haul airline, said on Monday it was in the process of only a "modest restructuring," two months after it reported a 75 percent decline in half-year profits due to slower growth and increased competition, Reuters reported. Gulf carriers who spent years rapidly expanding into markets from South America to Africa are under pressure to adapt to weaker markets, overcapacity and a stronger dollar.

Islamic mortgage provider Amlak Finance has announced the renegotiation of a restructuring deal with its financiers, Gulf Business reported. The firm said it approached financiers in September to wave “a number of restrictive covenants” in its original restructuring terms from 2014. These included adjustments restrictions to allow for the company’s mortgage book to be maintained at higher levels, funds to be raised under certain pre-agreed parameters and the removal of restrictions on business origination. The majority of financiers have now approved the company’s new business plan.

The new bankruptcy law could come into effect by the end of the year, amid concerns that the court system may struggle to implement it effectively, The National reported. The bankruptcy law was published in the country’s official legal gazette on September 29, stating that it will come into effect three months later, according to a senior Abu Dhabi lawyer and a senior executive at the Ministry of Finance.

Obaid Humaid Al Tayer, the Minister of State for Financial Affairs, said on Tuesday that the government is working on a new personal insolvency law that would apply to individuals. His comments follow the news that the UAE’s new bankruptcy law, which protects companies that cannot pay their debts from criminal prosecution, has been approved by the Cabinet and could come into effect early next year. Mr Al Tayer said that the law dealing with personal insolvencies would take about 12 months to draft, giving no indication when it is likely to come into effect.

The United Arab Emirates may finalise a long-pending bankruptcy law by the end of this year, the economy minister said on Wednesday, a move that could help smaller companies in particular as the economy slows because of low oil prices, Reuters reported. "The need for a bankruptcy law is there, as soon as possible," Sultan Saeed al-Mansouri said reporters. "It is in the process. It should be finalised by the end of the year, that is my estimate." The UAE does not have modern bankruptcy regulations, making it difficult for companies to restructure or wind themselves up.

State-owned property developer Nakheel, which was at the centre of Dubai's debt crisis in 2009, has finished recovering from a $16 billion debt restructuring by repaying an Islamic bond this month, its chairman said on Monday, Reuters reported. Ali Rashid Lootah told a small group of reporters that Nakheel had transferred funds for repayment of a 4.4 billion dirham ($1.2 billion) sukuk issue maturing this month. "We are closing the restructuring file," he said.

A Dubai-based firm has failed to get a Supreme Court order aimed at preventing it being sued here over its acquisition of a multi-million euro property in India from companies controlled by members of the family of businessman Sean Quinn, the Irish Times reported.