Dubai / Emirates Business The festive spirit is in full swing as Emirates prepares to serve 500,000 Christmas meals across all classes to customers travelling on select flights from December 9 to 31. In addition to a delicious festive menu, travellers can also enjoy nostalgic films and holiday treats across all cabin classes on board and on the ground. Emirates …

Bloomberg Speculation that South African Airways (SAA) is in danger of going under could become self-fulfilling. The national carrier has been given 57 billion rand ($3.9 billion) in bailouts since 1994 and last made a profit in 2011. The company’s already precarious finances took another hit last month when workers staged a week-long strike that grounded a number of flights, …

Bloomberg A special committee at Hudson’s Bay Co. rejected an offer by private-equity firm Catalyst Capital Group Inc. that values the Canadian retailer at more than $1.5 billion, giving the upper hand to a lower bid by the company’s chairman. The offer by Catalyst is “not reasonably capable of being consummated,” the committee said in a statement. Catalyst’s proposal of …

Bloomberg Philippine food maker Monde Nissin Corp. is weighing options including a potential minority stake sale for Quorn Foods, a British producer of meat substitutes, people with knowledge of the matter said. Monde Nissin, which makes the best-selling “Lucky Me!” instant noodles in the Philippines, is working with an adviser to look for an equity investor in Quorn, said the …

Bloomberg United Airlines Chief Executive Officer Oscar Munoz will hand the reins to President Scott Kirby next year, capping a tenure in which he turned around the perennial laggard. Kirby will take over as CEO in May while Munoz becomes the executive chairman, the carrier said in a statement. Kirby joined United in 2016 after leaving American Airlines Group Inc. …

Bloomberg The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) and its allies sent mixed signals about whether they were considering deeper production cuts, fanning oil-market speculation before crucial talks in Vienna this week. Iraq, which has the worst record among major producers of implementing the group’s current supply deal, pushed for steeper cutbacks. Oil Minister Thamir Ghadhban said the group should …

Emirates Business The 26th edition of the World Islamic Banking Conference (WIBC), the largest and most prestigious gathering of Islamic banking and finance leaders in the world, kicked off at The Gulf Hotel Bahrain, in the Kingdom of Bahrain on Wednesday. The forum is spurring a series of discussions focusing on “mega trends in banking and finance”, a theme that …

Bloomberg Egypt on Wednesday launched a $6.2 billion initiative to support local industry, as the nation looks to boost private sector growth in the next phase of its economic revival program. Under the new plan, factories with sales of under 1 billion pounds would be able to secure loans at a reduced interest rate of 10%, central bank Governor Tarek …

Abu Dhabi / WAM Waha Capital recorded a net gain of AED40 million through the divestment of its remaining stake in New York-listed AerCap Holdings NV, according to a press statement issued by the company on Wednesday. Waha Capital, which has been a shareholder in AerCap since 2010, has been reducing its stake gradually in recent years to re-allocate capital …

Dubai / WAM Nasdaq Dubai on Wednesday welcomed the listing of a one billion euro green sukuk by Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), the multilateral lender which finances development across its 57 member nations. It is IsDB’s first green sukuk, issued under its Sustainable Finance Framework. It is also third Sukuk listing this year on the region’s international exchange by IsDB, …