March, 2017

• 28 March

  Amazon wins battle to buy Souq.com

  

    Bloomberg Amazon.com Inc. has won the battle to acquire Dubai-based online retailer Souq.com, after walking away from a deal earlier this year. The US e-commerce giant trumped an offer from Emaar Malls PJSC, operator of the world’s biggest shopping center, which bid $800 million for Souq.com. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed in a joint statement from Amazon ...

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• 28 March

  Tesco to pay £214 million fine in UK accounting scandal

  

    Bloomberg Tesco Plc agreed to pay 214 million pounds ($269 million) to resolve regulatory probes into a 2014 accounting scandal that prompted a boardroom house-cleaning and an overhaul of the UK grocer’s supplier relations. Tesco said its UK unit will pay 129 million pounds under a deferred prosecution agreement with the Serious Fraud Office, subject to court approval, and ...

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• 28 March

  Laptop ban may boost Air India’s traffic, finance head says

  

    Bloomberg Air India Ltd., the country’s national carrier, may see a jump in passengers after the US barred people travelling by some Middle Eastern airlines from carrying large electronic devices on flights bound for the country, its finance head said. Etihad Airways PJSC, Qatar Airways Ltd. and Emirates Airline Ltd, which carry about 19 percent of travellers flying to ...

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• 28 March

  Iran gets third jet under sanctions deal

    Reuters An Airbus A330 airliner arrived in Tehran, the third of 200 Western-built passenger aircraft ordered by IranAir following the lifting of sanctions on Iran last year. The long-haul A330-200 landed at Tehran’s Mehrabad airport, the official news agency IRNA reported, as flag-carrier IranAir tries to renew its decaying fleet. The aircraft joins another A330 and a smaller A321 ...

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• 28 March

  Max Fashion opens store in Al Ain

  

    Emirates Business Max, the largest and most trusted value fashion brand in the Middle East, North Africa and India, has increased its presence in the UAE by opening a second store in Al Ain. With this, Max now has a total of 31 stores in the UAE. Located in Makani Zakher, the community mall in Al Grayyeh, Al Ain, ...

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• 28 March

  Citi applies for capital markets licence in Saudi Arabia

  

    KHOBAR / DUBAI / Reuters Citigroup has formally applied for a licence to conduct capital markets business in Saudi Arabia, two sources familiar with the matter said, in a move to return to the country after an absence of nearly 13 years. The application has been made with Saudi Arabia’s Capital Market Authority (CMA), whose primary role is to ...

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• 28 March

  Bank of England reviews consumer credit surge as Citi warns of ‘bubble’

  

    Bloomberg UK regulators are starting a review into consumer borrowing after the Bank of England warned again about a potentially unsustainable buildup of debt. In a statement on Monday after its quarterly meeting, the BOE’s Financial Policy Committee said household indebtedness “remains high by historical standards and has begun to rise relative to incomes.” Noting that consumer credit has ...

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• 28 March

  Oman signs MoU to deepen ties with Iran central bank

  

    DUBAI / Reuters Oman’s central bank signed a memorandum of understanding with the Iranian central bank to strengthen financial and economic cooperation between the two countries, the Omani institution said. It did not give details of the cooperation, but said the agreement would boost bilateral trade and include training for Iranian central bankers. Worried by the threat of U.S. ...

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• 28 March

  Lonely job of fighting Polish inflation irks central banker

  

    Bloomberg Central banks did their best to fight deflation. Now a Polish policy maker wants his government to step up as prices are making a comeback. As the National Bank of Poland comes under pressure to act in response to a rebound in price growth, Jerzy Osiatynski counters that it “has no monopoly on fighting inflation.” Higher wages raise ...

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• 28 March

  Didi weighs $6 billion SoftBank-backed funding

  

    Bloomberg Chinese ride-sharing giant Didi Chuxing is weighing whether to take a $6 billion investment backed by SoftBank Group Corp. that could dilute existing backers such as Apple Inc., people familiar with the matter say. If the deal goes through, the funding would be the single largest for a Chinese technology startup on record. But the Beijing-based company that ...

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