Cairo / EMIRATES BUSINESS Egypt’s state-run Heliopolis Company for Housing and Development (HELI) aims to start developing the fourth neighborhood in New Heliopolis at the end of 2016 with investments, its Chairman and Managing Director Hani Al Dib said on Monday. New Heliopolis fourth neighborhood includes building 500 villas of various spaces with investments worth one billion Egyptian pounds (US$112.6 ...

ABU DHABI / Emirates Business Bahrain-based investment holding firm GFH Financial Group has signed a sale agreement with Integrated Capital (IC), the capital markets arm of Abu Dhabi Financial Group (ADFG), under which IC will acquire a 10 per cent stake in Bahrain’s Falcon Cement Company (FCC) from GFH. The signing ceremony took place between Hisham Alrayes, CEO of GFH ...

Cairo / Emirates Business Egypt-based Business to Business for Investment and Real Estate Marketing -B2B has made sales on belalf for 450 residential, administrative and commercial units in addition to recording 450 leasing transactions by end of 2016, its CEO Nehad Adel said on Monday. B2B seeks to increase the sales and leasing transactions 35 percent by the end of ...

Bloomberg Sales of previously owned U.S. homes dropped more than forecast in February after reaching the second-highest level since 2007 as low inventory levels continue to limit progress in housing. Closings on existing homes, which usually take place a month or two after a contract is signed, decreased 7.1 percent to a three-month low 5.08 million annual rate after a ...

New Delhi / Bloomberg India is expanding its footprint in China’s backyard by forging deals with Russia for stakes in Siberian fields that supply Asia’s biggest economy and crude consumer. Deals last week between Rosneft and Indian state-run companies beefed up the South Asian nation’s share in two assets that are linked to the East Siberia-Pacific Ocean pipeline. That conduit ...

Beijing / Bloomberg The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is pushing China to disclose data on holdings of derivatives that could shed light on more-opaque methods of intervention in the yuan’s exchange rate, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported. The Washington-based lender is seeking data on the People’s Bank of China’s total holdings of forwards and futures, a step that would be in ...

Sydney / AFP One of the world’s biggest gas plants has begun shipping fuel after months of delays and cost overruns, operator Chevron said, with a vessel leaving Australia bound for Japan. The US$52 billion Gorgon liquefied natural gas (LNG) project off Australia’s northwest coast — the country’s largest resources project — started production in early March, with its first ...

Mumbai / Bloomberg India’s richest tycoon also seems to be its luckiest. While many a formerly gung-ho Indian businessman is being crushed by debt, Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries is getting one break after another. First came the fall in globalcrude prices, which has already given the conglomerate’s refining business $10-plus-a-barrel margins for four straight quarters, its biggest windfall in almost ...

TOKYO / AP Major Japanese airports were crammed with thousands of passengers unable to take domestic flights on Tuesday due to problems with airline computer systems. The delays began in the morning, with major Japanese carrier All Nippon Airways posting a notice on its website apologizing for delays and cancellations due to a “system malfunction.” The airline said Internet check-in, ...

Bangkok / DPA Thai Airways International plans to trim more staff this year to stop the financial bleeding. The company has set a budget of 2.2 billion baht (US$63 million) for the new cost-cutting plan,” Narongchai Wongthanavimok, chief financial officer, said. There is still no targeted number nor time frame for this round, but it should begin in one or ...