News

  Abu Dhabi / Emirates Business Under the patronage of HH Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE, and in collaboration with the Arab League Secretary General, the Arab Thought Foundation (ATF) will hold its annual FIKR15 conference in Abu Dhabi. The event will take place at St Regis Saadiyat on December 12 – 14. Coinciding with the ...

  Dubai / Emirates Business IMG Worlds, Dubai-based owner and operator of the world’s largest indoor theme park, IMG Worlds of Adventure, announces the launch of its latest project, IMG Worlds of Legends. With nine unique zones spread across over 2 million square feet, IMG Worlds of Legends will feature some of the most exciting and popular brands in the ...

  Bloomberg The European Union signaled Prime Minister Theresa May must first strike a deal for the UK’s post-Brexit trade ties with the bloc or lose out on a transitional phase that banks and businesses want. As both sides prepare to face off in the new year, Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief negotiator, told reporters in Brussels on Tuesday that ...

  Bloomberg The US trade deficit widened to a four-month high in October as overseas sales weakened and American companies imported more equipment and consumer goods. The gap grew to $42.6 billion from the prior month’s revised $36.2 billion, Commerce Department figures showed on Tuesday. The 17.8 percent increase from September was the largest since March 2015. The Bloomberg survey ...

  Copenhagen / AFP Danish toy maker Lego announced a management shake-up to develop the brand beyond its iconic plastic bricks under the leadership of its veteran chief who brought the company back from the brink of bankruptcy. Chief executive Jorgen Vig Knudstorp took over Lego when it was on verge of collapse in 2004 and transformed it into one ...

  Bloomberg Verizon Communications Inc. agreed to sell its data-centers business to Equinix Inc. for $3.6 billion in cash as the company turns its focus to mobile video advertising. The deal includes 24 facilities across 15 metropolitan markets, according to a statement on Tuesday. Equinix, based in Redwood City, California, operates as a real estate investment trust, mostly holding interconnected ...

Bloomberg Egypt’s net foreign reserves rose to the highest level in more than five years in November, as the country started receiving money from the International Monetary Fund and global lenders. Reserves reached $23.1 billion, up from $19 billion in October, according to data posted on the central bank’s website. Egypt got the first $2.75 billion installment of a $12 ...

Reuters GFH Financial Group hopes to largely complete the acquisition of Bahrain’s Bank Al Khair in the first quarter of next year and is at an advanced stage of exploring a merger with another Bahraini bank, its chief executive said on Tuesday. “The recent merger we announced was Bank Al Khair – we hope during the first quarter of 2017 ...

  Reuters Oman’s Finance Ministry is looking at cutting expenditure again in the state budget for next year to reduce a deficit caused by low oil prices, sources briefed on the ministry’s thinking told Reuters on Tuesday. A draft budget for 2017 foresees a 5 percent cut in spending from this year’s budget, and no increase in revenues, the sources ...

  Bloomberg OPEC’s mission to implement last week’s historic deal to curb production for the first time in eight years just got a little bit harder after three of its African members increased output in November. Crude production from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries rose to a record 34.16 million barrels a day in November with gains led by ...