Saudi Arabia’s recently announced plans to privatise several key industries in the Kingdom has once again brought the Kingdom’s privatisation agenda back into the spotlight. The announcements form part of the countries transformational initiatives as part of The 2016-2020 National Transformation Plan (NTP) to improve public sector efficiency and boost non-oil revenues in the region, … Continue Reading
The UAE has recently passed a new commercial companies law and approved some key changes to its public takeover regime. 1. New UAE Commercial Companies Law UAE Federal Law No. (2) of 2015 Concerning Commercial Companies (2015 CCL) was published in the Official Gazette on 31 March 2015 and comes into force on 1 July … Continue Reading
The Abu Dhabi Global Market, Abu Dhabi’s new financial free zone, located on Al Maryah Island, recently issued a first wave of draft regulations and related consultation papers. The Global Market’s general approach in the draft regulations follows very closely the English law model. In particular, the Global Market is proposing to apply English common … Continue Reading
The Middle East and North Africa region is on the cusp of a new energy revolution. US$50 billion has been set aside for investment in solar power projects by 2020, as MENA governments seek to maximise the long term value of their hydrocarbon resources by utilising solar energy to meet growing domestic consumption. Whilst these … Continue Reading
The virtual currency market has emerged in the United Arab Emirates with Dubai’s first Bitcoin ATM introduced in April 2014. Middle East entrepreneurs have begun launching Bitcoin payment products and SMEs are beginning to realise the potential of such technology, with The Pizza Guys becoming the first restaurant in the UAE to accept Bitcoin payments. … Continue Reading
A number of GCC governments, including those in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, have set ambitious clean energy and energy efficiency targets. As the fastest growing region in the world, the GCC’s population is expected to grow more than 53 million by 2020. Substantial amounts of investments will be required to finance the clean energy … Continue Reading
The MSCI upgrade of Qatar and the United Arab Emirates to “emerging market’ status marked the beginning of increasingly liberalised GCC stock exchanges. Saudi Arabia’s stock exchange, the Tadawul, is by far the largest securities exchange in the GCC by market capitalisation. It is also the most liquid in terms of daily trading volumes and … Continue Reading
Following last month’s announcement by the Saudi Arabian Capital Market Authority (the CMA) of its proposal to permit participation by qualified financial institutions directly on the Kingdom’s stock exchange (the Tadawul), the CMA has now published its Draft Rules for public consultation. The Draft Rules include detailed provisions relating to qualified foreign investor (QFI) eligibility, … Continue Reading
The European Union (EU) enacted Council Regulation (EU) No 833/2014 (the Regulation), which contains ‘Stage 3’ sanctions against Russia. These sanctions resemble – but in other ways are different – from the latest US sanctions, and they amount to the stiffest anti-Russian actions taken by Europe since the end of the Cold War. Perhaps most … Continue Reading
Whilst project bonds have for some time been a popular source of financing for projects in the US, they have historically been slow to gain momentum in other parts of the world, including the Middle East. A number of explanations have been advanced for this – in the Middle East, the deep pool of bank … Continue Reading
In a long anticipated measure, the Saudi Council of Ministers (which is the highest authority in the Kingdom) issued a resolution on 21 July, 2014 authorizing foreign financial institutions to directly buy and sell stocks listed on the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul). The resolution also authorized the Saudi Capital Market Authority (the “CMA”) to set … Continue Reading
The Sukuk Opportunity Total Sukuk issuances for 2013 stood at approximately US$120 billion and the Sukuk market is likely to sustain double-digit growth in the coming two to three years with assets in Islamic finance expected to reach US$2.8 trillion by 2015. The growth of the Sukuk market has allowed investors to diversify their portfolio … Continue Reading
The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries accounted for IPO issuances valued at US$1.1 billion in 2013, according to Bloomberg. Notably, Qatar Exchange bounced back this year with the successful IPO and listing of Mesaieed Petrochemical Holding company Q.S.C. (a Qatar Petroleum Subsidiary), the first IPO in Qatar since 2010 and the first under the current … Continue Reading
The strengthening global recovery appears to have brought renewed confidence to the UAE’s capital markets. As such, a number of interesting themes have begun to emerge: Resurgence in Dubai’s Real Estate Sector: Following a four year gap, IPOs and other equity offerings have returned in the form of DAMAC, Al Noor Hospitals, Arabtec, NMC Healthcare … Continue Reading
The global financial crisis and credit crunch prompted the Capital Markets Authority in Saudi Arabia (the “CMA”) to introduce rules to increase investor awareness of public company financial difficulties. In May 2013, the CMA published draft guidelines and instructions setting out certain rules that apply to public companies when the losses of a public company … Continue Reading
Following widespread debate and commentary on the first draft of the Egyptian sukuk legislation (the sukuk legislation), the Egyptian cabinet has approved a second draft of the sukuk legislation to be presented to the Egyptian Shura Council for parliamentary discussion. The legislation is a significant change in legal direction for Egypt that has only embraced … Continue Reading
Following a public consultation process, Hong Kong has commenced the legislative process for the introduction of tax changes to permit the issuance of Sukuk. The proposed legislation was published in a Legislative Council Brief on December 28, 2012, which seeks to establish a level playing field for the taxation of conventional bonds and Sukuk (referred … Continue Reading
A number of significant changes to the securities and capital markets regime in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) came into force on 5 July 2012. The changes represent the policy of the DIFC’s regulator, the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) to more closely align the DIFC with leading benchmark jurisdictions and the requirements of … Continue Reading
The Japanese Financial Services Agency has issued a document (see Taxation of J-Sukuk Q&A) highlighting reforms to Japanese tax laws implemented in 2011 that facilitate the issuance of sukuk by Japanese companies (J-Sukuk). Following these reforms, distributions paid on J-Sukuk benefit from the same favourable withholding tax treatment as interest or coupons paid on corporate … Continue Reading
In a session on “Current Trends in Islamic Finance” at the In-House Counsel Congress today in Kuala Lumpur, Latham partners Bryant Edwards and Craig Nethercott discussed the opportunities for Shari’ah compliant debt issuance in the United States capital markets. “US capital markets remain the deepest capital markets and investors in these markets are increasingly interested … Continue Reading
Family-owned businesses continue to drive commercial activities in the economies of the Middle East. According to recent statistics, in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region alone, family businesses control over 90% of commercial activity. Today, family businesses are confronted with numerous challenges in the changing economic environment, including governance, globalisation, technology, generational change and innovation. … Continue Reading
Few countries in the world have come close to matching Iraq in terms of contradictory media coverage in recent years. Stories of economic growth and opportunity are tempered by reports of political, tribal and sectarian divisions. While the world is focussed on insecurity in the immediate aftermath of the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq … Continue Reading
In February, Greece launched its sovereign debt swap, pursuant to which holders of EUR 206 billion of its bonds were invited to swap their existing holdings for a package of instruments with a nominal value of just 46.5 per cent. of the par value of their current bonds. This invitation for voluntary participation in the … Continue Reading
NASDAQ Dubai recently consulted on its new proposed Admission and Disclosure Standards (the “ADSs”). Reform of the DIFC’s Listing Regime The proposed ADSs, issued on 6 February 2012, are part of significant ongoing reform of the regulatory architecture governing NASDAQ Dubai and other securities exchanges in the Dubai International Financial Centre (the DIFC). The reforms … Continue Reading
