J. Randy Forbes SPECIAL TO EMIRATES BUSINESS With tensions rising in the South China Sea, the United States’ alliance with the Philippines may be approaching one of its most important moments in its 65-year history. Over the past few years, the world has watched as China has steadily worked to achieve de facto control of the islands and waters …

  JEDDAH / Reuters Saudi Arabia will offer foreign and local property developers partnership deals in a vast housing construction programme that aims to build 1.5 million homes over the next seven or eight years, the housing minister said. “We are preparing five or six types of partnership between the ministry and the developer,” Majed al-Hogail told a news conference …

  Bloomberg Partners Group Holding AG of Switzerland is in exclusive talks to buy French real estate management business Foncia from Eurazeo SA and Bridgepoint, the sellers said in a statement on Thursday. Foncia, which has refocused on real estate services since Eurazeo and Bridgepoint bought it from French bank BPCE SA in 2011, had revenue of €696 million ($793 …