News

New York / Bloomberg Confidence among U.S. homebuilders dropped in February to a nine-month low as potential buyers stayed away, interrupting the steady progress residential real estate had built over the course of 2015. The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo builder sentiment index decreased to 58 in February from a revised reading of 61 the prior month, figures from ...

DOHA / Bloomberg UrbaCon Trading & Contracting Co., the construction firm building the Mall of Qatar, is considering an initial public offering in Doha that may raise about $1 billion, people familiar with the matter said. UCC, as the Qatari company is also known, has spoken to advisers about managing an IPO, which could occur by the fourth quarter of ...

Riyadh / Bloomberg Saudi Arabia is creating a “one-stop shop” for housing developers as it tries to relieve bureaucratic gridlock that is stalling plans to build half a million affordable homes for its soaring population. The Real Estate Developers Center will bring together various government agencies involved with the review and approval of housing projects, reducing the time and effort ...

NEW YORK / Bloomberg A provision of the 2010 Dodd-Frank law that takes effect in December forces banks to keep a stake in the commercial-property loans they package into securities and sell off to investors. The rule is intended to deter the type of risky lending that helped fuel the last decade’s boom and bust. Under the current business model, ...

Singapore / AFP Airbus and Boeing announced billion-dollar deals at Asia’s largest airshow in Singapore on Wednesday, underscoring the region’s role as a driver of industry growth despite greater caution among plane buyers. Europe’s Airbus said it had won an $1.85 billion deal for the purchase of six A350-900s by Philippine Airlines (PAL), the flag carrier of one of Asia’s ...

Washington / Bloomberg Bombardier Inc. said it planned to cut about 7,000 jobs as it reported fourth-quarter profit that fell short of analysts’ estimates. It also signed a letter of intent for Air Canada to buy at least 45 of the planemaker’s C Series jets. The job cuts, from a workforce of about 64,000, will occur during the next two ...

Montreal / AFP Air Canada has signed a $3.8 billion deal with Bombardier to buy 45 CS300 jets, with options to purchase another 30 planes, the companies announced. Deliveries of the all-new aircraft will begin in 2019. “With the signing of Air Canada for the leading-edge CS300 aircraft, we add a major international airline customer based in North America to ...

SINGAPORE / Bloomberg Mitsubishi Aircraft Corp. and Embraer SA are battling for customers in Asia as the Japanese maker aims to break into a market expected to account for a quarter of global regional jet demand over the next two decades. The market for smaller jets currently is dominated by Canada’s Bombardier Inc. and Brazil’s Embraer. Emerging economies like Indonesia ...

RITIKA SHARMA EMIRATES BUSINESS What is Lebanon famous for — its architectural monuments, its scenic beauty and the cultural and traditional heritage. But one thing that brings you the closest to the real Lebanon is the Lebanese food. Without a mention of the sumptuous cuisine of Lebanon, every expansion of this compact country is incomplete. Lebanese is one for the ...

Sunaina Rana / Emirates Business At Arab Health Exhibition & Congress, the region’s largest healthcare trade show, the UK-based Kings College Hospital participated in a high-level discussion with the Dubai Health Authority (DHA), the UK Minister of State for Health and its Dubai and UK investors including Ashmore Group, Al Tayer and Dubai Investments. At the event, King’s College Hospital, ...