Latest news with #InvestmentFunds
Zawya
20 hours ago
- Business
- Zawya
Egypt: FRA licenses 4 companies to perform non-banking financial business, investment fund activities
Arab Finance: The Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA) licensed four companies to operate within non-banking financial business and investment fund activities, according to a statement. The FRA passed the licensing of Al Ahli Kuwait-Egypt Leasing Company to add factoring to its original purpose. IFS Financial Solutions Company also obtained a license to add finance lease activities to its factoring business. The authority also granted a license to Aspire Capital Holding for Financial Investments, which enables the company to operate within the investment fund business, whether by itself or with third parties. Aur Real Estate Finance Company was also licensed to perform such activities. The FRA also approved the registration of the Arab African International Bank (AAIB) as well as the Bank of Alexandria in the authority for dealing with government securities and financial instruments in the secondary market. © 2025 All Rights Reserved Arab Finance For Information Technology Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (
Forbes
03-07-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Shifting Sands: UAE's Business Evolution Amid US Uncertainty
Forced or organically, the world continues to evolve beyond the United States. It's not the United States is less important – it's just that our constant policy swings from Republican to Democrat Administration's and back have pushed the rest of the world to plan for a less US-centric world, to develop their own markets and trade partnerships, and invest in the industries of the future. At the recent Make it in the Emirates conference in Abu Dhabi, the ambivalence of the world towards the United States was on clear display. On the one hand, UAE officials – from government leaders to investment funds and corporate leaders, were bullish on the United States after the successful visit by President Trump's to the region a few weeks ago. The UAE announced a $10 billion collaboration on artificial intelligence with the United States - officially to build modern AI chips and create joint research facilities. In reality, the UAE will be building data centers for US companies, subsidizing the energy costs of AI, and will receive tech transfer in return. But both sides hope that it leads to greater research collaboration down the line. On the other hand, the 500 exhibitors at the event – manufacturers of everything from autos to food products, were not talking about US markets. They were talking about expansion towards Asia – (South Asia, East Asia and Australia), and towards Eastern Europe, Turkey and the Central Asian republics. The most common refrain was that the United States might changes the rules in the middle of the game – and that's if they even get visas to do business. Financiers line up to support UAE Manufacturing Alongside manufacturers, the banking and financial sectors had a strong presence, including home-grown fintech's providing a range of services to consumers and business. These were not just government-backed entities, but also consumer-facing fintechs, vendor financing arms and family offices. An interesting startup that has been rapidly growing in the UAE is amana, a fintech company with over 350,000 users and rapid recent growth. Founded in 2022 by Zaid Aboujeh and Karim Farra, a Wharton MBA and YPO member, amana is an online platform for trading stocks, crypto and other assets. When US tariffs were announced, traders flocked to its site to quickly adjust their portfolios; benefiting from the ability to balance their portfolios across multiple assets, including crypto, in one platform – an opportunity not available historically to many in the region. With uncertainty in the mainstream economy, it's not a surprise that crypto trading has been a key growth driver this year as well. amana has over 450 coins available for trading and investing - with 68% of amana's active traders engaging in crypto alongside other assets, while 20% trade only crypto. In a region that has long limited access to capital to the connected, elite and certain national groups– amana and others are democratizing market access and providing services for a rapidly growing financial ecosystem. The UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and other countries in the region have two advantages that fintech's like amana can take advantage of – a strong digital public infrastructure where most residents are connected electronically, and a large population from South Asia that is very comfortable with online banking and fintech services. Beyond that, amana says that 20% of its usage last year came from Lebanon, and future growth will come from large, emerging markets in the region, including Egypt, Bahrain, Qatar and Jordan. The Founders of amana There are other signs that the UAE and other nations are clearly taking advantage of US policy fluctuations to build their own competitive advantages. Dubai and Abu Dhabi have both greatly expanded their free trade zones to attract businesses from other nations hit by the Trump tariffs. If a company can legitimately establish itself in the UAE, it can bypass harsh Trump tariffs and access UAE government-backed financing for business creation, expansion and manufacturing. For most businesses seeking access to global markets, this is really a win-win. As immigration policies tighten in the United States, many highly skilled professionals are exploring opportunities in the Gulf. Countries like the UAE are actively attracting global talent through strategic initiatives such as their AI partnership with the US – designed to support advanced research in state-of-the-art facilities. For many researchers, especially in nearby hubs like Bangalore, the Gulf offers both proximity and access to cutting-edge infrastructure without the barriers often faced when seeking entry into the US. The growth of startups like amana, the investments in the manufacturing and tech sectors, alongside free trade zones and an improved financial ecosystem suggest a country, and region, committed to growth. Similar growth is occurring across the GCC, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar. The implications for the United States may not be much at first glance. The Trump Administration has backed off on tariffs just as fast as its announced them in many cases. As a result, the UAE and other nations may not have time to launch all of these efforts to take advantage of US policy – there may be a completely different policy in place in 4 months and certainly again in 3 years. But that uncertainty makes the investment all the more critical for them and concerning to the United States.
Bloomberg
11-06-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Papa John's Surges After Report of Private Equity Interest
Papa John's International Inc. shares jumped the most in a month after a report that Apollo Global Management Inc. and a Qatari investment fund, Irth Capital, have made an offer that would take the pizza chain private. Papa John's stock rose 7.4% in Wednesday trading in New York, the most since May 8. The stock had run up 17% for the year through Wednesday's close, compared with a S&P Small Cap 600 Index decline for the period.
Time of India
08-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
What sectors to be overweight on, underweight on, and completely avoid right now? Manish Gunwani answers
Live Events You Might Also Like: Buy the dips in quality names with earnings visibility: Hemang Jani You Might Also Like: What are Specialised Investment Funds and how will they impact investors? (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our ETMarkets WhatsApp channel , Head-Equity,, says despite expensive domestic-facing stocks , India's strong macroeconomics and the ' China plus one' theme offer opportunities, particularly in manufacturing exports to Europe and China. Despite a generally cautious outlook, beaten-down financials in India, trading below book value, present an attractive risk-reward opportunity due to the country's strong macroeconomics. While a deep US recession poses a threat to asset quality, the sector offers compensation for that risk. Elsewhere, auto and capital goods appear of good things have happened for India in the sense that the dollar has weakened, crude has fallen, RBI has become fairly dovish. I do not expect earnings to be anything great over the next two-three quarters, but there is the strength of the macro in terms of the currency, the current account deficit, inflation, interest rate trajectory, and also the geopolitical I do think that a lot of things that the US is trying to do are good for India. Now, it may be a very rocky path to get there, but what does the US want? They want to reduce China's current account deficit which could mean manufacturing moving out of China. They want lower energy prices and lower bond yields. Although they may not explicitly say this, they probably want a weaker dollar. So, all this is what India also wants. So, the macro narrative will support the is a fair thing to say that the US will definitely slow down. The extent of that slowdown is very difficult to gauge. It could be right from a mild slowdown to a deep recession, no one can predict that. So, it is not a market where you need to be very greedy. But the chances of macro narrative overpowering quarterly numbers is quite high.I do not think that at the overall headline index level, we will make big returns. But it is all about being nimble and catching the themes that can potentially work in the medium term. There are a fair amount of interesting themes which can work. Nothing is definite. For example, there is this tech platform segment, there is the shift of manufacturing from China segment, there is this beaten down financials segment. Personally, these kinds of themes look attractive from a risk-reward perspective.I am not very positive on global growth or as a corollary even on India growth from a one-year perspective in the sense that there is a range of probability outcome but there is a decent probability that there will be a severe slowdown globally. So, I do not think you can have a very cyclical portfolio at this point of time. Just following up from what you said, the risk-reward in buying anything related to the US economy is not you think about business cycles in three parts – US, India, and the rest of the world – which is Europe and China, the expectations are least from Europe, and China-related stocks and maybe there are some contrarian bets on that cycle which is metals and global auto which are worth owning purely because expectations are beaten has the best macro, but Indian domestic-facing stocks tend to be expensive, but there may be the theme of 'China plus one' expanding from the traditional chemicals to a lot of new segments may work. But yes, anything to do with the US economy is a bit risky, I would I meant was anything which is very cyclical and linked to the US economy is probably risky. But stocks linked with general global exports to Europe and China are quite cheap. They have done nothing for two-three years at least and that part is worth a bet. But I do not think you can be very aggressive because if the US slows down more than we think, then even Europe, China cannot do well, and even India will not do as well as we I said, it is not probably a time to be very cyclical, but I would say that any good manufacturing exporter from India – if the valuations look reasonable – are worth a bet because we do not know. All we know is that it is a once in a generation supply chain shift that will happen. You can be fairly certain that China's current account will go down and it will go down as a mix of exports coming down and imports going up. But safe to say that China's share in manufacturing will go who benefits, which category benefits, which country benefits is not exactly clear at this point of time, but as a theme, that is worth looking at. On the domestic side, it is a bit of a consensus view, but the only risk-reward space that looks attractive is financials which are below book or one-time book because India's macro is good. Hopefully, the asset quality will not deteriorate unless the US goes into a very deep recession that risk remains, but at least you are getting paid to take that risk. Auto, and capital goods look expensive to me. So, yes, on the domestic side, beaten down financials is the only really attractive cyclical sector.
Arab Times
05-04-2025
- Business
- Arab Times
UAE introduces new tax measures to boost investment and economic growth
DUBAI, April 5: The UAE Ministry of Finance has unveiled new regulations aimed at fostering economic growth by attracting more investments. The regulations focus on Qualifying Investment Funds (QIFs) and Qualifying Limited Partnerships, offering favorable tax incentives to boost their appeal. Under the new rules, investors in QIFs will enjoy a favorable tax regime, with income exempt from UAE Corporate Tax, provided they meet certain conditions, including maintaining a minimum real estate asset threshold of 10% and ensuring ownership diversity. The new framework also allows QIFs a grace period to address ownership diversity issues beyond the initial two years, as long as these breaches do not exceed 90 cumulative days per year or occur during liquidation. Notably, violations of ownership diversity will only affect the breaching investors, not the entire fund, assuming other exemption criteria are met. If a QIF surpasses the real estate asset threshold, only 80% of its real estate income will be subject to taxation, in line with the treatment of Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs). Foreign juridical investors in REITs and QIFs who meet specific conditions and distribute at least 80% of their income within nine months of the financial year-end will only need to register for Corporate Tax when dividends are distributed, simplifying compliance. The regulations also allow certain limited partnerships to acquire tax-transparent status, aligning with international best practices in the taxation of such structures. This decision highlights the UAE's commitment to fostering a business-friendly environment by attracting investments and simplifying regulatory compliance. By offering competitive tax advantages and efficient administrative procedures, the UAE continues to solidify its position as a leading global investment hub.
