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Bloomberg Bahrain-based Gulf International Bank converted its Saudi operation into a locally incorporated bank with 7.5 billion riyals ($2 billion) capi- tal, as the lender looks to boost its presence in the kingdom. The bank’s Saudi arm will be owned equally by GIB, as the Bahraini lender is known, and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, according to a statement. Abdulla …

DUBAI / WAM UAE stocks maintained their upward movement and gained around AED6.2 billion in market cap at the end of the Sunday session, driven by a spree of selective purchases targeting blue chips and positive quarterly statements announced by the leading listed companies. Amidst the overall bullish sentiments, the general index of the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange closed at …

Emirates Business To the tune of AED39 billion in cash dividends have been paid out by listed Emirati companies for their stockholders for the year 2018. The generous cash distributions, which earn the UAE companies the lead over other Middle East-based firms in terms of dividend payouts, are reflective of the high-yield stocks traded in the country’s two main bourses …

Bloomberg Eni SpA signed an exploration and production agreement wi-th emirate of Ras Al Khaimah, a further push by the Italian company into the Middle East. The deal between the Rome-based hydrocarbons producer and RAK Petroleum Authority will cover Block A, which includes an area of 2,412 sq kms off the coast, according to a statement from Eni. Eni will …

Bloomberg Hedge funds are betting rising tensions around the globe will keep fueling oil’s rebound this year. Money managers boosted optimistic wagers on West Texas Intermediate crude to the highest since October in the week ended April 16, according to government data released. Total long and short positions swelled to the most in six months, a sign the rally is …

DUBAI / WAM Abdul Rahman bin Mohammed Al Owais, Minister of Health and Prevention (MoHAP) met with Dr Amrit Ray, Global President, R&D and Medical, Pfizer EMB, to discuss the possibility of establishing a scientific research and excellence hub in the UAE. Al Owais and Dr Ray also discussed mutual efforts to fight chronic diseases and develop innovative and integrated …

Bloomberg Emirates NBD PJSC posted a 15 percent increase in first-quarter profit as lending rose and margins improved at Dubai’s biggest bank. First-quarter profit rose to AED2.74 billion ($747 million) from AED2.39 billion, the bank said in a statement. The mean estimates of three analysts compiled by the lender was for a profit of AED2.5 billion. The rise in profit …

Emirates Business Economic activity in the UAE is set to accelerate to 2.2% in 2019, up from an estimated 1.7% in 2018, according to ICAEW’s latest Economic Insight report. This will be buoyed by a pick-up in non-oil activity, rising public spending at the Federal and Emirate levels, higher investment ahead of the highly anticipated Expo 2020 and continued regional …

Bloomberg Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd. is considering selling as much as 25 percent of its refinery business in a deal that could fetch at least $10 billion, people with knowledge of the matter said. Reliance is sounding out potential investors including state-owned Saudi Arabian Oil Co (Aramco) to gauge the interest, according to the people, who asked …

Bloomberg Almost 15 months into the job, and the boss of South Africa’s state-owned electricity company is getting to grips with issues spanning corruption to defective power plants that threatened to collapse the grid. “The days of surprises are over,” Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. CEO Phakamani Hadebe said in an interview. “We just have to speed up the process of …