Archive for the ‘General’ Category

With $1 billion in hand, the government-sponsored Abu Dhabi Media Company announced plans to produce eight feature films over the next five years.  Abu Dhabi’s move into filmmaking is seen as an attempt to unseat sister city, Dubai, as a media hub and to establish itself as a “center for content creation.”  See article in Financial Times on Abu Dhabi takes fortunes to Hollywood.

MarketWatch.com reports that Research and Markets has compiled information on the 1,100+ largest commercial firms in Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. The “Middle East 2008 – Arabian Gulf Top List” includes analysis and contact information, and should help to make more visible budding investment and collaboration opportunities in the ME.

American fast food icon McDonald’s reports almost 9% (8.8%) gains in its Asia Pacific, Middle East, and Africa stores, leading the produce-consuming giant to analyst-trumping gains in the second quarter of 2008. At a time when US market volatility confounds the efforts of some of America’s best multinational competitors, McDonald’s posted net profits of $1.2B vs. a loss of about $712M in the same quarter the preceding year, reports BBC News (7/23). Look for continued consumption of the inputs McDonald’s loves for Q3 2008, but keep in mind what Forbes reports as a potential commodity increase and squeeze on McDonald’s profits down the road. We’ll be watching this closely.

ICFA reported today (6/30) that the Bank of New York Mellon will open its first office in the ME in Dubai. The move comes as reports continue to list financial excursions into a region poised for continued, strong growth. Hani Kablawi, managing director and head of Middle East & Africa at The Bank of New York Mellon, said: “The growth potential of this region is significant and The Bank of New York Mellon is well placed to help local and regional financial institutions and institutional investors get better access to the global capital markets.”

Early Friday, MarketWatch published the first of a new series of columns about socioeconomic happenings in the United Arab Emirates. “Letters from Abu Dhabi,” by Raymond Beauchemin, deputy foreign editor of The National in Abu Dhabi, is worth the read for the street level views. The inaugural publishing covers the heated topic of inflation. Price caps and freezes seem to be doing the trick, at least for now, but looking further out, the de-pegging of dirham from the US$ appears inevitable.

In an effort to encourage increased business over the summer, Four Seasons Hotels organized a client-oriented series of presentations to announce new and future openings in the Middle East. The luxury hoteliers have eight locations in the ME, with plans to build more, Al Bawaba reports (6/08).

The India-based sector analysis firm released its new report: “Middle East Retail Sector Analysis (2007-2010).” RNCOS, based on country-level analysis of the retail industry in the ME, focuses on growing opportunities in the ME markets. PR-Canada.net reports (5/30) “The retail sector in the Middle East region is growing rapidly. The increasing household consumption, affluent population, and booming services industry (tourism, banking and trading sectors) are propelling growth of the region’s retail industry. Also, the modern shopping malls anchoring state-of-the-art hypermarkets and various shopping events like Dubai Shopping Festival, makes the region a highly profitable destination for retail players.”

Diversified UK law firm Eversheds recently announced (5/28) the impending opening of its latest branch in UAE, following successful receipt of a practice license, reports The Northern Echo. The expanding firm has also opened offices in South Africa, Switzerland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Prague, and Bratislava in the past twelve months.

Wall Street Journal sources (5/27), reports Bloomberg, suggest that hedge funds and investors are betting that Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE will break their currencies’ pegs to the US dollar. The upshot for these and perhaps other Middle Eastern states is that doing so would likely allow their currency to rise in value relative to the USD, which remains the world’s dominant reserve currency even during a prolonged period of relative weakness.