The Gulf Time Newspaper One of the finest business newspapers in the UAE brought to you by our professional writers and editors.

  Reuters Oman has chosen five banks to arrange the sultanate’s first international bond issue in almost 20 years, sources aware of the matter said on Thursday. The upcoming US dollar-denominated issue comes as Oman, like other Gulf states, looks to tap international bond markets to shore up state finances pressured by low oil prices. Oman has chosen Citi, JP ...

  Bloomberg Purchases of previously owned U.S. homes rose more than projected in March, indicating resilience in demand heading into the spring selling season. Contract closings climbed 5.1 percent to a 5.33 million annualized rate from February’s 5.07 million, figures from the National Association of Realtors showed Wednesday in Washington. The median forecast of 75 economists in a Bloomberg survey ...

  Bloomberg A Chinese-led group agreed to buy Australia’s most iconic cattle company in a deal valued at more than A$370 million ($288 million) after partnering with local investors. The venture, headed by a company controlled by Shanghai Pengxin Group, will purchase 80 percent of S. Kidman & Co., according to a statement to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. Australian Rural ...

  Bloomberg Blackstone Group LP, the world’s largest manager of alternative assets, said first-quarter profit fell 77 percent as rocky markets curbed asset sales and new buyouts. Its real estate operation struck two massive deals: a $6.5 billion sale of Strategic Hotels & Resorts Inc. to China’s Anbang Insurance Group Co., which is expected to close later this year, and ...

  Bloomberg Workers have almost completed mounting the copper paneling on the American Copper Buildings (née 626 First Avenue), the new tilting, two-towered development on Manhattan’s East Side, but their most striking feature—a three-story, 100-foot-long skybridge—is still open to the elements. A Bloomberg photographer (and a laughably heights-averse reporter) had the chance to take the construction elevator up to the ...

  LONDON / Bloomberg UK retail sales fell for a second month in March as Britons bought less of everything from food to clothing. The volume of sales dropped 1.3 percent from February, far more than the 0.1 percent decline forecast in a Bloomberg survey. Sales excluding auto fuel fell 1.6 percent, the most since January 2014. The Office for ...

  Reuters Saudi Arabian retailer Fawaz Abdulaziz Alhokair Co missed analysts’ estimates as it reported a 98 percent fall in fourth-quarter net profit on Thursday after its operations made losses and total group sales fell. The company made a net profit of 3.17 million riyals ($845,626.48) in the three months to March 31, down from 201.74 million riyals in the ...

  Reuters Wal-Mart Stores Inc said it will shrink its board by three members to 12, bringing it closer to US corporate norms in a move the largest US retailer hopes would allow it to respond more nimbly to rapid market changes. The change will take place after Wal-Mart’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 3, it said in a statement. ...

  PARIS / Reuters French retailer Fnac said on Thursday it would offer 145 pence per share to buy Darty , Europe’s third-largest electronics retailer, trumping an offer from Conforama, part of South African retail conglomerate Steinhoff. Fnac had originally proposed a takeover offer for Darty last year but Conforama emerged as a rival bidder in March, with an offer ...

  Shanghai / AFP China’s homegrown regional jet should have made its first commercial flight weeks ago, but the ARJ21 has still not flown any fare-paying passengers, dealing yet another setback to the country’s ambitious plans for domestically produced planes. Chengdu Airlines received the aircraft from manufacturer the Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China (COMAC) in November, already years behind schedule, ...