RITIKA SHARMA / Emirates Business Not only are cloud-based services making various companies in the Middle East efficient and productive, they are also helping in saving a huge amount of money that was otherwise spent on data connectivity and hardware maintenance. Regional experts claim that a thoughtful use of cloud services by all industries can cut the additional costs by ...

Dubai / Emirates Business Despite apartment and villa sale prices dropping steadily for 2 years, a recent survey of propertyfinder’s consumer audience found that just 30% of its UAE residents have bought property here, meaning a sizeable 70% of them are still renting, even though half have resided here for 5 years or more. This is contrary to more developed ...

  Bloomberg Discount Investment Corp. is poised for the biggest increase on record after entering into an accord to sell its remaining stake in Adama Agricultural Solutions Ltd., the world’s largest maker of generic agro-chemicals, to China National Chemical Corp. Shares in Discount leaped 23 percent to 10.94 shekels in Tel Aviv in 21 times the 3-month average daily volume. ...

  Bloomberg India’s first Masala bond from Housing Development Finance Corp, the nation’s biggest mortgage lender, opens the door for other high-quality issuers to tap the nascent offshore rupee-debt market, according to Credit Suisse Group AG and Nomura Holdings Inc. HDFC sold 30 billion rupees (US$447 million) of three-year, one-month notes at an annualized yield of 8.33 percent, compared with ...

  Bloomberg Some of Asia’s biggest technology companies are backing the latest fund from DCM Ventures, extending the corporate venture boom that hit a 15-year high last year. DCM Ventures had completed a final close of its primary fund at US$500 million and had wrapped up two separate funds: a US$100 million vehicle for fledgling startups using emerging platforms such ...

  Bloomberg New Zealand Prime Minister John Key will be joined by Trade Minister Todd McClay in Indonesia this week as he seeks to boost trade between the two countries. McClay said he is traveling to Indonesia Sunday to join Key and a high-level business delegation for a two-day visit to New Zealand’s 11th largest export market. “Our two-way trade ...

  Bloomberg More rich Asians are asking private banks to manage their wealth amid increasing volatility in financial markets, a new survey shows, in an encouraging sign to firms such as UBS Group AG and Credit Suisse Group AG that are expanding their businesses in the region. About a quarter of high-net-worth investors in Asia were clients of private banks ...

  Bloomberg Citigroup Inc. reduced its forecast for net interest margin, the difference between what it makes on loans and pays for funds, on expectations interest rates will remain low for a longer stretch than bank executives previously thought. The margin will be about 2.90 percent in the second half of 2016, down from a previous forecast of 2.95 percent, ...

  Bloomberg The highly-indebted oil company at the center of Brazil’s biggest corruption scandal still has cash to support top athletes in the run-up to the Olympic games being held in its home city. Rio de Janeiro-based Petrobras has expanded its budget for athletes, even as it cut overall sponsorship spending by 27 percent this year to 228 million reais ...

  Bloomberg Accused by one of its founders of nepotism and greed, Hyperloop Technologies Inc., a startup dedicated to fulfilling Elon Musk’s dream of high-speed transportation, is taking steps to rein in the power of its major stakeholders. At a series of all-hands meetings in recent weeks, according to two people familiar with the situation, the company told employees it’s ...