UAE borrowers are approaching investors and banks in growing numbers as confidence returns to debt markets for the first time after revolutions in the region during the Arab Spring.
Emirates Airline issued a US$1 billion (Dh3.67bn) bond this month and the Dubai Government recently announced a $5bn bond programme. Dolphin Energy, a gas pipeline company owned by Mubadala Development, a strategic investment company owned by the Abu Dhabi Government, is also said to be in talks with banks about refinancing debt through a $1bn bond.
In a potential further boost for confidence in regional debt markets, Reuters reported yesterday that the Dubai retail giant Majid al Futtaim Holding was considering raising up to $4bn from global investors. Abu Dhabi's Tourism Development and Investment Company is also reportedly planning to raise about $1bn.
"There has been a little uneasiness with respect to the global situation, which has probably played into the regional markets, but it's still a very attractive time to issue," Abdul Kadir Hussain, the chief executive of Mashreq Capital, said of Dubai's bond.
The market for bank loans in the Middle East is also heating up. Regional companies are looking to borrow $5.5bn from banks, according to a Bloomberg News report yesterday.
If those deals are completed, total loans in the second quarter would reach $11.5bn, the report said, topping the first quarter's $8bn figure.
afitch@thenational.ae
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
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