United Arab Emirates

Shareholders of Dubai's Amlak Finance met for the first time in more than six years on Sunday and backed a key component of the mortgage provider's $2.7 billion debt restructuring deal, Reuters reported. Amlak's future has been in the balance for years. Its shares have not traded since November 2008 when they were suspended in the wake of the global financial crisis and a local real estate crash, and a number of attempts to revive the firm since then have failed.

State-owned Dubai World is set to reach a deal with creditors to extend repayments on its $25 billion (Dh91.8 billion) debt, according to one of Dubai’s top government officials, Gulfnews.com reported. “I can say for sure we will reach it. It is there and I’m sure you will hear about it soon,” said Shaikh Ahmad Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman of Dubai’s Supreme Fiscal Committee and President of Dubai Civil Aviation and Chairman and CEO of Emirates airline and Group. Shaikh Ahmad declined to divulge further details aside from assuring reporters that there will be an announcement soon.

Dubai government-owned property firm Limitless has held positive talks with creditors as it seeks to re-negotiate the terms of a $1.2 billion debt facility which has already been restructured once before, its chief executive told Reuters on Sunday, Gulf Business reported. “We have a revised business plan which we are discussing with creditors. The discussions have been positive and we hope we can announce the outcome of these talks soon,” Mohammed Rashed told Reuters on the sidelines of a real estate event.

Dubai mortgage lender Amlak Finance said on Wednesday that it would hold a shareholder meeting on September 21 to discuss its restructuring plan and a proposed issue of equity-linked bonds, Arabian Business reported. Creditors of the company, whose shares have been suspended since late 2008 after it was hit by a local real estate crash and the global financial crisis, last month approved a plan to restructure debts worth around $2.7 billion.

Abu Dhabi-based conglomerate Al Jaber Group has signed a debt restructuring deal with its bank creditors, the conglomerate said on Monday, addressing one of the United Arab Emirates' last big debt hangovers from the global financial crisis, Reuters reported. Al Jaber, a family-owned group with operations in aviation, construction and retailing, had been in talks with bank creditors to renegotiate its obligations since 2011. Like many family-owned groups in the Gulf, Al Jaber looked to expand beyond its core business - in Al Jaber's case, construction - during the boom years of the mid-2000s.

Italian carrier Alitalia is in for some "painful and arduous" restructuring but should see a deal with Etihad Airways in a matter of weeks, the airline's chief executive officer said Monday, Gazzetta del Sud reported. Gabriele Del Torchio said that changes were necessary to attract essential investment from Abu Dhabi-based Etihad, which he said is prepared to invest 560 million euros in the cash-strapped Alitalia.

The UAE-based Etihad Airways has said that it is pressing ahead with a plan for an equity investment in the struggling Italian carrier Alitalia, The Economic Times reported. Etihad Airways, which has been in negotiations for almost a year, said it will forward a letter detailing the conditions precedent and the criteria for a proposed equity investment in the Italian airline which had to turn to shareholders for a 250 million pound cash injection for its bail-out in January.

Dubai has received a financial boost thanks to an agreement to refinance at preferential rates $20bn of bonds and loans owed to the central bank of the United Arab Emirates and its capital, Abu Dhabi, the Financial Times reported. The Gulf’s commercial hub, which has an overall debt load of about $130bn, said it extended the maturities for five years at interest rates of one per cent, below the four per cent agreed in 2009 when the UAE came to Dubai’s rescue.

Dubai’s global financial crisis-induced slump, followed by a less dramatic, but equally sharp, recovery make for a compelling story. The endless flow of positive news in the desert emirate culminated late last year in Dubai winning the hosting rights for World Expo 2020, The Wall Street Journal Middle East Real Time blog reported. But the smart people at Bank of America Merrill Lynch are a little more sober in their analysis of Dubai’s rebound. Afterall, there’s still some pretty significant financial hurdles for the city’s government-related entities to clear.

State-owned investment firm Dubai Group announced its long-awaited $10 billion debt restructuring deal with creditors late on Thursday. While all bankers and advisors who took part in the often acrimonious negotiations breathed a sigh of relief, most of them are also aware that Dubai’s debt problems aren’t quite a thing of the past yet, The Wall Street Journal Middle East Real Time blog reported.