Latest news with #Alain
Zawya
4 days ago
- Business
- Zawya
First Vida-branded residences to come up in Abu Dhabi
In a landmark move set to reshape lifestyle-led real estate in the capital, Alain, a leading Abu Dhabi-based asset management company, has joined hands with Vida Hotels & Resorts, a vibrant lifestyle brand by Emaar Hospitality Group, to launch the first Vida-branded residences in Abu Dhabi. The new project, Vida Residences Saadiyat Island, introduces a contemporary, fully furnished living concept with 121 one-, two-, and three-bedroom residences, where creative design meets effortless sophistication, it stated. Saadiyat Island, home to the Louvre Abu Dhabi and the upcoming Guggenheim and Zayed National Museum, is the cultural soul of the UAE, where soft sandy shores meet world-renowned museums and galleries. Just minutes from the city centre yet surrounded by calm, it offers residents an unmatched blend of cultural vibrancy, architectural excellence, and beachside tranquillity, making it a new lifestyle address in Abu Dhabi's cultural capital. In this exceptional location, Vida Residences Saadiyat Island brings a fresh, vibrant energy to the capital, said the Emirati asset manager in a statement. Vida's signature approach to community living ensures that each residence is not just a home but part of a curated lifestyle designed for thinkers, dreamers, and modern explorers seeking a dynamic connection with Abu Dhabi's thriving cultural and social scene, it added. Alain Group CEO Rabih Elie Karam said the launch of Vida Residences on Saadiyat Island is another step in its commitment to shaping the future of living in Abu Dhabi. "In partnership with Vida Hotels & Resorts, we are delivering a development that goes beyond traditional residential offerings, where cultural connection, and lifestyle quality come together to create an exceptional living experience and enduring value for our city," he noted. Nicolas Bellaton, Head of Emaar Hospitality Group, said: "We are pleased to partner with Alain to bring Vida's vibrant hospitality lifestyle to Saadiyat Island. This launch is an exciting milestone for Vida as we expand our footprint in Abu Dhabi, offering residents a living experience that blends design, energy, and culture in a way only Vida can. We look forward to seeing this development become a sought-after landmark in Abu Dhabi." Karam said this launch underscores Alain's commitment to shaping a portfolio that seamlessly blends lifestyle aspirations with long-term investment value, reflecting its vision for the future of urban living in the UAE. It is a testament to our dedication to creating thoughtfully designed developments that go beyond providing homes, by fostering vibrant, connected communities that inspire and enrich daily life. "Through projects like Vida Residences Saadiyat Island, we aim to contribute to the cultural and economic fabric of Abu Dhabi, delivering spaces that elevate the way people live while generating enduring value for our residents, partners, and the wider community," he added.-TradeArabia News Service Copyright 2024 Al Hilal Publishing and Marketing Group Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (
Yahoo
05-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Enko Capital welcomes commitment from IFC to new Impact Credit Fund
LONDON, June 05, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Enko Capital ('Enko'), an African-focused asset management firm managing debt, private debt, equity and private equity investments across Africa, has welcomed commitment from International Finance Corporation ('IFC') to its new Impact Credit Fund ('EICF'). The commitment has been confirmed by IFC with the planned equity investment in the fund being up to the lower of US$25 million or 20% of total Limited Partner (LP) commitment to EICF. The project is being processed under IFC's Debt Funds Project (DFP) Investment Framework. EICF is Enko's first private credit vehicle. It has a target LP commitment size of US$150 million, targeting US$80 million at first close, expected to take place in Q3 2025. EICF's objective is to invest in a diversified portfolio of USD denominated senior secured and unsecured debt to mid-sized corporates in sub-Saharan Africa, excluding South Africa. EICF will seek to invest in SDG-aligned, ESG focused and gender-oriented businesses, while generating commercial returns and utilising guarantees, insurance wraps and collateral to hedge downside credit risks. Alain Nkontchou, Managing Partner of Enko, said, 'We are delighted to have received this invaluable support from IFC for our debut private credit fund. The fund will provide critical growth capital for mid-market SMEs on the continent and will deliver both positive social impact and compelling risk-adjusted returns. This growth capital can help address the massive funding gap which businesses on the continent face while driving sustainable development.' About Enko: Enko Capital ('Enko'), is an African-focused asset management firm managing debt, private debt, equity and private equity investments across Africa. Enko offers deep knowledge of the continent combined with best-in-class investment expertise. Enko was founded in 2008 by Alain and Cyrille Nkontchou, and has over $1bn in assets under management. Contact:
Yahoo
05-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Enko Capital welcomes commitment from IFC to new Impact Credit Fund
LONDON, June 05, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Enko Capital ('Enko'), an African-focused asset management firm managing debt, private debt, equity and private equity investments across Africa, has welcomed commitment from International Finance Corporation ('IFC') to its new Impact Credit Fund ('EICF'). The commitment has been confirmed by IFC with the planned equity investment in the fund being up to the lower of US$25 million or 20% of total Limited Partner (LP) commitment to EICF. The project is being processed under IFC's Debt Funds Project (DFP) Investment Framework. EICF is Enko's first private credit vehicle. It has a target LP commitment size of US$150 million, targeting US$80 million at first close, expected to take place in Q3 2025. EICF's objective is to invest in a diversified portfolio of USD denominated senior secured and unsecured debt to mid-sized corporates in sub-Saharan Africa, excluding South Africa. EICF will seek to invest in SDG-aligned, ESG focused and gender-oriented businesses, while generating commercial returns and utilising guarantees, insurance wraps and collateral to hedge downside credit risks. Alain Nkontchou, Managing Partner of Enko, said, 'We are delighted to have received this invaluable support from IFC for our debut private credit fund. The fund will provide critical growth capital for mid-market SMEs on the continent and will deliver both positive social impact and compelling risk-adjusted returns. This growth capital can help address the massive funding gap which businesses on the continent face while driving sustainable development.' About Enko: Enko Capital ('Enko'), is an African-focused asset management firm managing debt, private debt, equity and private equity investments across Africa. Enko offers deep knowledge of the continent combined with best-in-class investment expertise. Enko was founded in 2008 by Alain and Cyrille Nkontchou, and has over $1bn in assets under management. Contact: in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Chanel might hold off dividend payment for 2024 as profits tumble by 30%
Chanel is the latest luxury company to succumb to a sector-wide downturn that has weakened several of its larger French competitors, including LVMH and Kering. The London-headquartered tweed suit maker saw revenues and operating profits fall 4.3% and 30%, respectively, in 2024—a sharp drop for a company that had weathered the initial shock of the luxury slowdown. Meanwhile, its capital expenditure jumped 43% to $1.8 billion as Chanel expanded its stores and targeted new markets and creative endeavors. As Chanel navigates a tricky year, its dividend for 2024 may take a backseat. The luxury giant hasn't disclosed or proposed a final dividend yet, according to a filing reported by Bloomberg. But a spokesperson told Fortune that the board will decide any payments in the coming months. Last year, the Wertheimer family behind Chanel received a $5.7 billion dividend, marking the largest payout in six years following strong 2023 results. Brothers Alain and Gerard, the owners of privately held Chanel, made a whopping $12.4 billion over the last three financial years thanks to a luxury spending splurge. The Wertheimers' family investment office, Mousse Partners, is overseen by their half-brother, Charles Heilbronn. It invests in various companies in the clothing and personal products industry and was also among the companies that took the Franco-British investment bank Rothschild private in 2023. Chanel's earnings were dragged down by a slower appetite from high-end shoppers due to macroeconomic challenges and the company's aggressive price increases. Bernstein SG analysts, led by Luca Solca, noted that the brand had increased prices by 59%—the highest compared to other luxury players—between 2020 and 2023. But its price rises are slowing now, as Chanel plans to make increases in line with inflation going forward, CFO Philippe Blondiaux told Reuters. 'Chanel's management may blame the macroeconomic context for their performance — we aren't buying it — but their decision to hold off on price increases in 2025 and potentially even absorb U.S. tariffs suggests they know better,' Solca wrote in the note. Other luxury companies have also been dealing with headwinds similar to Chanel's. LVMH, for instance, reported a 2% drop in revenues in 2024 compared to a year earlier, higher than analyst expectations but still reflecting muted demand for luxury goods. Tariffs and their impact could result in further uncertainty for luxury labels, which might have to increase prices, move some production, or find alternate ways to cope with how the additional levies impact consumer confidence worldwide. 'As a 100-year brand, we expect ebbs and flows. Our philosophy has always been to act with a long-term view, propelled by the singularity of the Chanel brand,' CEO Leena Nair said in a statement when reporting annual results on Tuesday. This story was originally featured on Sign in to access your portfolio
National Geographic
10-05-2025
- National Geographic
Try the Skeena, a budget alternative to Canada's famous Rocky Mountaineer
This article was produced by National Geographic Traveller (UK). 'Ladies and gentlemen, we'll be making an unscheduled stop here to pick up another passenger,' announces train manager Alain Vermette. 'In fact, we need to back up. We just missed his stop.' Brakes squeal and gears grind as Via Rail Line 6 — better known as 'the Skeena' — slows, shifts into reverse and trundles back down the track. A minute later, a burly man in a baseball cap, hunting boots and jeans emerges from the forest, rucksack slung over his shoulder, a cheroot poking out from his grizzled grey beard. 'Afternoon, Alain,' he says, waving a greeting up to the conductor, who's leaning out of the train window. 'Running a little late today, ain'tcha?' The train pulls to a stop — but since there's no platform, Alain has to hop down onto the track and put down a set of portable steps. I follow him down, and together we help the man haul himself up through the train's side door. Soon the engine chugs into life and we're off again, hurtling onwards into an endless sea of pines. The Skeena stops to pick up hitchhikers in the backcountry. Photograph by Oliver Berry On Canada's railways, freight takes priority, so passenger trains must wait for them to pass. 'There's a joke that 'Via Rail' actually stands for 'Very Irregular Arrival',' quips train attendant Dany Clarissa. Photograph by Oliver Berry On the Skeena, request stops have always been part of the service. Completed in 1914 as the western end of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway, the train travels through some of British Columbia's wildest backcountry, including the 24,700sq mile Great Bear Rainforest, the largest temperate forest on Earth. It's one of Canada's great wildernesses, a haven for wildlife including moose, elk, eagles and, as its name suggests, black and grizzly bears. The route begins on the Pacific coast in Prince Rupert, BC, and ends 720 miles further east high in the Rocky Mountains in Jasper, Alberta. Since it's often the only way to get from one backwoods town to the next, locals use it like a bus service, flagging the train down as it passes three times a week. It's been classed as an essential service since 1990, but if it was judged on purely economic terms, it would probably have been closed long ago. 'The Skeena is a lifeline for so many people,' Alain explains as we chat inside the train's compact cafe car, watching stereotypically Canadian vistas blur beyond the window: sprawling forests, turquoise lakes, snow-topped peaks. Originally from Quebec, with a Francophone lilt to his accent, he's dressed in his Via Rail uniform: short-sleeved shirt, navy waistcoat and trousers, a shiny pin badge of the Canadian flag tacked to his lapel. 'We call the people who live way out in the bush 'flaggers', and we keep an eye out as we pass their stop,' Alain continues. 'Usually they signal with a flagpole or a high-vis jacket hanging beside the track. But we stop for hikers, too; forest workers, hunters, people like that. Recently we picked up a family who'd got lost. It was lucky we found them, actually.' I'm riding the Skeena eastbound on a two-day, 21-hour journey from the Pacific to the Rockies, with an overnight stop in Prince George en route. The timetable is more guide than gospel — on Canada's railways, freight takes priority, so passenger trains must wait for them to pass. Delays are inevitable. 'There's a joke that 'Via Rail' actually stands for 'Very Irregular Arrival',' quips train attendant Dany Clarissa, on secondment from her regular gig on Via Rail's flagship route, The Canadian — 2,775-miles, linking Toronto and Vancouver. Sure enough, a minute later we pull into a siding to allow a gigantic goods train to rumble past, its steel boxcars daubed with graffiti. 'This one's only a small one, but they can be three miles long,' Dany says. Thankfully, the Skeena is one train where you're almost glad about the hold ups. The train has a retro elegance reminiscent of the 1950s. The carriages are made from functional brushed steel, with curved lines and stamped rivets that remind me of an Airstream trailer. Each passenger gets their own deep-padded seat in brown leather, with windows running along each side. At the train's rear is the cafe and lounge car, where a metal staircase climbs up to a viewing deck with bubble windows offering widescreen views of the Canadian wilderness as it zips by. Catch some of Canada's great wilderness while passing through the Great Bear Rainforest. It's a haven for wildlife including moose, elk, eagles and, as its name suggests, black grizzly bears. Photograph by Getty Images; Kenneth Canning And when it comes to scenery, there are surely few trains on the planet that can compare to the Skeena. One minute we're thrashing along the banks of a wild river, thundering with whitewater; the next we're rattling over a box bridge, teetering along the rim of a high-walled canyon or skirting the slopes of a glacier-studded mountain. Images from Canada's past flicker by like a film reel: rickety sawmills, abandoned salmon canneries, gold mines, ghost towns. Occasionally, we pass Indigenous communities, where First Nations peoples, including the Gitxsan, Kitselas and Tsimshian, have lived for thousands of years. Wildlife guest stars, too: I watch bald eagles circling over the treetops, elk grazing along the sidings, and a distant black bear ambling through a meadow, its fur freckled with dandelion blossom. As dusk falls, we trundle into the outskirts of Prince George — a former logging and fur-trading outpost that's now sometimes called BC's 'northern capital' — in search of our overnight accommodation. The next morning, the train departs at 8.15am sharp. Alain serves coffee and pastries as we run westwards along the Fraser River, watching the sunrise turn the water copper. Logging was once the prime industry in this part of BC, but most of the mills have long since been abandoned, leaving the forest to slowly regenerate. We trundle through little towns like Penny, Crescent Spur, McBride and Dunster — mostly just a few clapboard houses and a single-pump petrol station — slowly threading our way between two mountain ranges: the Cariboos, to the south; the Rockies to the north. Flurries of snow speckle the peaks like icing sugar. In a few months, the drifts will stand 10ft high or more, but the Skeena will run on regardless; the train's cowcatcher frame acts as a snow plough, Alain explains. For now, though, it's the perfect autumn day for sitting on a train. Blue skies shine overhead. The forest blazes with colour: golds, scarlets, chestnuts, tangerines. The hulking outline of Mount Robson, Canada's highest mountain, rises like a pyramid as we cross over the Alberta border and change time zones, from Pacific to Mountain time. We climb on, over the Continental Divide, and finally into the cradle of mountains around our terminus, Jasper, still scarred by the wildfire that swept through town in August 2024. As I step off the train onto the platform, breathing in pine-scented mountain air, I check the station clock. We're only 53 minutes late. By Skeena standards, that's pretty much right on time. The Skeena travels in each direction on Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Tickets cost from £160 per person. Published in the May 2025 issue of National Geographic Traveller (UK) To subscribe to National Geographic Traveller (UK) magazine click here. (Available in select countries only).
