Kuwait Budget Surplus At $21bn In April-June, Spending Lags

The country has undershot its budget plans repeatedly in recent years as political disputes have delayed budget approvals.

Saudi’s Arrow Offers To Acquire Egypt’s Arab Dairy

The offer is higher than a rival bid of 56 pounds per share from Pioneers Holdings announced on Tuesday.

MENA IPOs Raise $1.7bn In Q3 2014

There were a total of three IPOs in the MENA region during the third quarter with the Emaar Malls Group (EMG) listing being the largest in 2014, the report said.

RBS Says Reviewing Options After Middle East Corporate Loan Book Sale

The statement from the bank was issued following a Bloomberg News report about RBS hiring PricewaterhouseCoopers to sell its Middle Eastern corporate loan book.

UAE’s Etisalat Says Profit Cut By $44m Due To Mobily Earnings Debacle

Etisalat owns 27.5 per cent of Mobily, which on Monday cut its profits for 2013 and the first half of 2014 by a combined SAR1.43 billion ($381.2 million), citing accounting errors.

Bahrain’s Investcorp Buys Italian Retailer Dainese

Post the sale, the founder of Dainese will retain a minority stake in the company and will lend his expertise in its operations, Investcorp said.

Abu Dhabi May Reform Power, Water Subsidies – IMF Official

Subsidies and transfers accounting for nearly 20 per cent of annual expenditure in Abu Dhabi, according to the IMF.

Mubadala GE Capital To Sell Benchmark Five-Year Bond On Wednesday

Barclays and Citigroup are the joint global co-ordinators for the bond sale.

Stock News: Saudi May Stay Under Pressure As Oil, Mobily Worries Persist

The Saudi index tumbled 3.5 per cent to 9,785 points on Tuesday, its biggest drop since Oct. 16 .

Billionaire Nassef Sawiris To Ramp Up Egypt Investments After Tax Win

He said the first would be a multibillion-dollar project related to the power sector in partnership with a Middle Eastern group.

Dubai Holding Unit Picks Five Banks To Raise Dhs4bn Loan -Sources

The loan will have a lifespan of between seven and eight years and will have an amortising structure, the sources said.

Kuwait’s Americana Says Shareholder In Talks On Stake Sale

The company did not identify the parties but stressed that no final agreement had been reached and no binding commitments had been made.

Kuwait To Raise Crude Oil Exports To Egypt, Could Send Diesel

Kuwait has said it would ship around two million barrels of crude oil a month to Egypt, giving it priority as a buyer ahead of sales from storage into the Mediterranean market.

Kuwait’s KIPCO Q3 Net Profit Rises 26%

KIPCO made a net profit of KD10.1 million ($34.8 million) in the three months to Sept. 30, up from KD8 million in the same period of 2013, it said in a statement.

Commercial Bank Of Kuwait Cancels KD120m Bond Issue

The bank said that despite attracting sufficient attention for the transaction from investors, the bond issue was cancelled due to “legislative and technical issues”

China Makes ICBC Yuan Clearing Bank For Qatar

China has appointed clearing banks for Taiwan, Singapore, London, Frankfurt, Paris, Luxembourg and Seoul in the past two years.

Qatar Sovereign Fund To Launch $10bn Investment Fund With China’s CITIC

QIA, estimated to have around $170 billion, and state-owned CITIC Group signed an MoU to launch the 50-50 investment fund.

Qatar’s Wealth Fund Expands In China, Eyes New Investments

The fund is best known for European investments including the acquisition of London department store Harrods.

Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank Posts 21% Q3 Net Profit Jump

The bank made a net profit of Dhs476.8 million ($129.8 million) in the three months to Sept. 30, up from Dhs395.5 million in the prior-year period.

Kuwait’s Zain Q3 Net Profit Falls 13%

The company made a net profit of KD46 million ($158.4 million) in the third quarter of 2014, down from KD53 million in the year-earlier period.

Dubai’s DIFC Investments Issues Price Thoughts For 10-Year Sukuk

The firm is currently earmarking the U.S. dollar-denominated sukuk to price in the area of the very low 200s in terms of basis points over midswaps, a document showed.

Kuwait’s Gulf Cryo Raises Capital By 50% To KD22.5m

The extra funds had come from the injection of voluntary reserves and retained earnings, as agreed by Gulf Cryo’s owners, it said in a statement.

UAE’s Abraaj Offers $118m For 100% Of Egypt’s Bisco Misr

The offer is for the whole company but Abraaj will accept no less than a 51 per cent controlling stake, it said.

Daman Investments Plans Dubai Listing In Q1 2015

Daman will sell new shares equivalent to 55 per cent of the firm to the public.

Bahrain Fund Mumtalakat Sets Up $1bn Bond, Sukuk Programmes

Proceeds from the multi-currency programmes would be used predominantly to refinance upcoming maturities.

Saudi Bank NCB’s $6bn IPO 16 times Subscribed On Retail Side

The retail portion comprises 15 per cent of its stock, amounting to 300 million shares.

UAE Lender NBAD Names Former Barclays Veteran As Retail Banking Head

Suvrat Saigal, previously head of consumer banking at Barclays in India, takes over from George Beatty, who resigned in January.

Former Emirates NBD CEO Launches Online SME Lending Platform In UAE

Called Beehive, the marketplace claims to be the region’s first peer-to-peer (P2P) online lending platform.

Kuwait’s Burgan Bank Swings To Q3 Profit, Misses Forecasts

The bank said net profit was KD15.35 million ($52.96 million) for the third quarter of 2014, compared to a KD10.31 million loss in the same period a year ago.

Stock News: Gulf Markets Rise Sharply In Response To Global Cues

Although the long-term outlook for oil prices remains uncertain, Brent crude has stabilised around $85 a barrel in recent days.