Dubai World asked its banks for some breathing-space more than 18 months ago while it started talks to extend repayment of about US$25 billion (Dh91.82bn) of debt.
Industry Insights: More premium business content offered by The National
Last Updated: May 30, 2011
China's high-speed rail faces bullet China's high-speed rail network has hit the buffers over allegations of multimillion corruption. Read article
Germany's slowness to explore electric cars imperils its best industry Germany's car industry plugs into an electric future. Read article
Regions discovering value of co-operation The decline of US power is an opportunity for neighbouring states to come together with the EU acting as a model. Read article
The ugly truth is that it pays to be tall and handsome Do better looking people get better paid jobs, one recent study has delivered a depressing truth for those not so blessed. Read article
More Industry Insights
Because the company is government-owned and a central player in Dubai's development, Dubai World's problems sent tremors through global markets and put investors on notice that the emirate, like other places where easy lending fuelled unsustainable asset-price bubbles, needed a little help.
Dubai had already lined up $10bn of loans from the Central Bank to help to keep companies deemed strategically important in business. But the Dubai World restructuring was nevertheless a seminal event in the UAE's post-financial-crisis narrative.
Unsurprisingly perhaps, much has changed about Dubai and about business in the emirate since the financial crisis.
Gone are the go-go days when developers launched plans for overly grand projects by the dozen. Gone, too, are the financial tools Dubai exploited to expand at such a rapid pace.
The international investors eager to buy bonds at low rates of interest and with short tenures are also a distant memory, as is the competition among banks to lend to the conglomerate.
A year and a half later, the focus in Dubai has narrowed on practicality and traditional grit. The emirate's established merchant class is helping to clean up the financial mess made by a generation of younger, more daring entrepreneurs who reinvented Dubai city with borrowed money.
Company boards have been shaken up, and Dubai's Supreme Fiscal Committee - a group formed after the crisis - is increasingly central in the emirate's financial hierarchy. Its members include Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, who made Emirates Airline into a global aviation force, and Mohammed al Shaibani, a stalwart of the local business community.
The new managers of Dubai's state businesses have made considerable progress in the past 18 months. They have successfully renegotiated Dubai World's $24.9bn debt, extending its old borrowings into new loans that mature in five and eight years.
Nakheel, the government-owned developer behind Dubai's palm-shaped islands, is undergoing a separate restructuring and is expected to issue an Islamic bond to contractors to which it owes money. It has already paid out billions of dirhams in cash to settle some claims.
That said, much more terrain is left to cover. Nakheel is facing numerous challenges in the Dubai World Tribunal, a special court set up to handle claims against Dubai World and its subsidiaries, such as Nakheel, which is also under pressure from thousands of individual investors and property owners who say they have been left in the lurch by a failure to complete projects as planned.
Together, these people have invested billions of dirhams in Nakheel-built projects - and have made their discontent clear. The company is trying to help by transferring investments in stalled projects to ones that are going forward.
As Dubai World and Nakheel try to put their finances in order, other parts of Dubai's business empire have shown signs of stress.
Divisions of Dubai Holding, the personal investment vehicle of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, the Vice President of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, have started their own restructuring talks.
The Investment Corporation of Dubai (ICD), a government arm that owns Emirates Airline and Emirates NBD, the country's largest bank, is also refinancing debt.
Haissam Arabi, the chief executive of Gulfmena Investments, said the bulk of Dubai's financial trouble had been disposed of with the resolution of Dubai World's restructuring. The important question now, he said, was how well the emirate's property market would fare.
"A year and a half later, we are in a much better position because this is now behind us," he said. "There has been a precedent of how to deal with restructuring and everyone's following suit.
"I think we are definitely in a much better place, but where the overhang is coming from is we still have a high concentration on real estate, which is where most people put their money in the last few years," he said.
afitch@thenational.ae
Feeding the thousands for iftar
Six industrial scale vats of 500litres each are used to cook the kanji or broth
Each vat contains kanji or porridge to feed 1,000 people
The rice porridge is poured into a 500ml plastic box
350 plastic tubs are placed in one container trolley
Each aluminium container trolley weighing 300kg is unloaded by a small crane fitted on a truck
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
GAC GS8 Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh149,900
The five pillars of Islam
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
The years Ramadan fell in May
WOMAN AND CHILD
Director: Saeed Roustaee
Starring: Parinaz Izadyar, Payman Maadi
Rating: 4/5
New schools in Dubai
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
1,000 Books to Read Before You Die: A Life-Changing List
James Mustich, Workman
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
More on animal trafficking
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
If you go
The flights
Emirates and Etihad fly direct to Nairobi, with fares starting from Dh1,695. The resort can be reached from Nairobi via a 35-minute flight from Wilson Airport or Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, or by road, which takes at least three hours.
The rooms
Rooms at Fairmont Mount Kenya range from Dh1,870 per night for a deluxe room to Dh11,000 per night for the William Holden Cottage.
TOURNAMENT INFO
Women’s World Twenty20 Qualifier
Jul 3- 14, in the Netherlands
The top two teams will qualify to play at the World T20 in the West Indies in November
UAE squad
Humaira Tasneem (captain), Chamani Seneviratne, Subha Srinivasan, Neha Sharma, Kavisha Kumari, Judit Cleetus, Chaya Mughal, Roopa Nagraj, Heena Hotchandani, Namita D’Souza, Ishani Senevirathne, Esha Oza, Nisha Ali, Udeni Kuruppuarachchi
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Biog
Mr Kandhari is legally authorised to conduct marriages in the gurdwara
He has officiated weddings of Sikhs and people of different faiths from Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Russia, the US and Canada
Father of two sons, grandfather of six
Plays golf once a week
Enjoys trying new holiday destinations with his wife and family
Walks for an hour every morning
Completed a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Loyola College, Chennai, India
2019 is a milestone because he completes 50 years in business
Cinco in numbers
Dh3.7 million
The estimated cost of Victoria Swarovski’s gem-encrusted Michael Cinco wedding gown
46
The number, in kilograms, that Swarovski’s wedding gown weighed.
1,000
The hours it took to create Cinco’s vermillion petal gown, as seen in his atelier [note, is the one he’s playing with in the corner of a room]
50
How many looks Cinco has created in a new collection to celebrate Ballet Philippines’ 50th birthday
3,000
The hours needed to create the butterfly gown worn by Aishwarya Rai to the 2018 Cannes Film Festival.
1.1 million
The number of followers that Michael Cinco’s Instagram account has garnered.
More coverage from the Future Forum
UK-EU trade at a glance
EU fishing vessels guaranteed access to UK waters for 12 years
Co-operation on security initiatives and procurement of defence products
Youth experience scheme to work, study or volunteer in UK and EU countries
Smoother border management with use of e-gates
Cutting red tape on import and export of food
More on Quran memorisation:
If you go
Where to stay: Courtyard by Marriott Titusville Kennedy Space Centre has unparalleled views of the Indian River. Alligators can be spotted from hotel room balconies, as can several rocket launch sites. The hotel also boasts cool space-themed decor.
When to go: Florida is best experienced during the winter months, from November to May, before the humidity kicks in.
How to get there: Emirates currently flies from Dubai to Orlando five times a week.
More from Neighbourhood Watch
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
More on Quran memorisation:
About Karol Nawrocki
• Supports military aid for Ukraine, unlike other eurosceptic leaders, but he will oppose its membership in western alliances.
• A nationalist, his campaign slogan was Poland First. "Let's help others, but let's take care of our own citizens first," he said on social media in April.
• Cultivates tough-guy image, posting videos of himself at shooting ranges and in boxing rings.
• Met Donald Trump at the White House and received his backing.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
More on Quran memorisation:
Read more about the coronavirus
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
Various Artists
Habibi Funk: An Eclectic Selection Of Music From The Arab World (Habibi Funk)
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW
Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman
Director: Jesse Armstrong
Rating: 3.5/5
Company%20profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Fasset%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2019%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Mohammad%20Raafi%20Hossain%2C%20Daniel%20Ahmed%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dubai%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFinTech%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInitial%20investment%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%242.45%20million%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ECurrent%20number%20of%20staff%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2086%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Pre-series%20B%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Investcorp%2C%20Liberty%20City%20Ventures%2C%20Fatima%20Gobi%20Ventures%2C%20Primal%20Capital%2C%20Wealthwell%20Ventures%2C%20FHS%20Capital%2C%20VN2%20Capital%2C%20local%20family%20offices%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Zayed Sustainability Prize
The years Ramadan fell in May
In numbers
1,000 tonnes of waste collected daily:
- 800 tonnes converted into alternative fuel
- 150 tonnes to landfill
- 50 tonnes sold as scrap metal
800 tonnes of RDF replaces 500 tonnes of coal
Two conveyor lines treat more than 350,000 tonnes of waste per year
25 staff on site
More on animal trafficking
More coverage from the Future Forum
The biog
Age: 59
From: Giza Governorate, Egypt
Family: A daughter, two sons and wife
Favourite tree: Ghaf
Runner up favourite tree: Frankincense
Favourite place on Sir Bani Yas Island: “I love all of Sir Bani Yas. Every spot of Sir Bani Yas, I love it.”
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Floward%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ERiyadh%2C%20Saudi%20Arabia%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EAbdulaziz%20Al%20Loughani%20and%20Mohamed%20Al%20Arifi%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EE-commerce%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETotal%20funding%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EAbout%20%24200%20million%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EAljazira%20Capital%2C%20Rainwater%20Partners%2C%20STV%20and%20Impact46%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20employees%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E1%2C200%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
