Fadi Ghandour has sold his remaining shares in Aarmex. Mona Al Marzooqi / The National
Fadi Ghandour has sold his remaining shares in Aarmex. Mona Al Marzooqi / The National

Aramex co-founder Fadi Ghandour sells all his shares to Boston Ventures Corp



A co-founder of the Dubai courier company Aramex has sold his remaining stake in it to a Cayman Islands venture capital firm.

Fadi Ghandour sold shares representing 9.9 per cent of its stock to Boston Ventures Corporation, Aramex said yesterday.

Mr Ghandour, a Jordanian businessman who helped to set it up more than 30 years ago, sold the Cayman Islands holding company that owns 144.9 million Aramex shares to Boston Ventures.

Aramex said Mr Ghandour had sold Levant Logistics Holdings to Boston Ventures without stating a sale price. When calculated at yesterday’s share price, the stake is worth about Dh594 million.

Last week, Jaona Investment bought 6.55 per cent of Aramex for Dh437.5m, or Dh4.4 a share, according to Dubai Financial Market.

Aramex shares closed up 2.5 per cent yesterday, at Dh4.1, in Dubai. Last week the company posted a second-quarter net profit of Dh125.7m, a 36 per cent increase over last year that beat analysts' forecasts.

Revenue surged by 17 per cent to Dh1.1 billion from Dh946m a year earlier, as the company’s various businesses grew, particularly in Europe, Asia and Australia. Last year, the acquisition of the New Zealand and Australia business of New Zealand’s Fastway Couriers for NZ$125.2m (Dh331.5m) shored up revenue.

lbarnard@thenational.ae

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The Little Things

Directed by: John Lee Hancock

Starring: Denzel Washington, Rami Malek, Jared Leto

Four stars

The bio:

Favourite holiday destination: I really enjoyed Sri Lanka and Vietnam but my dream destination is the Maldives.

Favourite food: My mum’s Chinese cooking.

Favourite film: Robocop, followed by The Terminator.

Hobbies: Off-roading, scuba diving, playing squash and going to the gym.

 

COMPANY PROFILE

Company: Vault
Started: June 2023
Co-founders: Bilal Abou-Diab and Sami Abdul Hadi
Based: Abu Dhabi
Licensed by: Abu Dhabi Global Market
Industry: Investment and wealth advisory
Funding: $1 million
Investors: Outliers VC and angel investors
Number of employees: 14

ROUTE TO TITLE

Round 1: Beat Leolia Jeanjean 6-1, 6-2
Round 2: Beat Naomi Osaka 7-6, 1-6, 7-5
Round 3: Beat Marie Bouzkova 6-4, 6-2
Round 4: Beat Anastasia Potapova 6-0, 6-0
Quarter-final: Beat Marketa Vondrousova 6-0, 6-2
Semi-final: Beat Coco Gauff 6-2, 6-4
Final: Beat Jasmine Paolini 6-2, 6-2

2019 ASIAN CUP FINAL

Japan v Qatar
Friday, 6pm
Zayed Sports City Stadium, Abu Dhabi

Brief scores:

Toss: Sindhis, elected to field first

Pakhtoons 137-6 (10 ov)

Fletcher 68 not out; Cutting 2-14

Sindhis 129-8 (10 ov)

Perera 47; Sohail 2-18

Recipe

Garlicky shrimp in olive oil
Gambas Al Ajillo

Preparation time: 5 to 10 minutes

Cooking time: 5 minutes

Serves 4

Ingredients

180ml extra virgin olive oil; 4 to 5 large cloves of garlic, minced or pureed (or 3 to 4 garlic scapes, roughly chopped); 1 or 2 small hot red chillies, dried (or ¼ teaspoon dried red chilli flakes); 400g raw prawns, deveined, heads removed and tails left intact; a generous splash of sweet chilli vinegar; sea salt flakes for seasoning; a small handful of fresh flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped

Method

Heat the oil in a terracotta dish or frying pan. Once the oil is sizzling hot, add the garlic and chilli, stirring continuously for about 10 seconds until golden and aromatic.

Add a splash of sweet chilli vinegar and as it vigorously simmers, releasing perfumed aromas, add the prawns and cook, stirring a few times.

Once the prawns turn pink, after 1 or 2 minutes of cooking, remove from the heat and season with sea salt flakes.

Once the prawns are cool enough to eat, scatter with parsley and serve with small forks or toothpicks as the perfect sharing starter. Finish off with crusty bread to soak up all that flavour-infused olive oil.

Switching sides

Mahika Gaur is the latest Dubai-raised athlete to attain top honours with another country.

Velimir Stjepanovic (Serbia, swimming)
Born in Abu Dhabi and raised in Dubai, he finished sixth in the final of the 2012 Olympic Games in London in the 200m butterfly final.

Jonny Macdonald (Scotland, rugby union)
Brought up in Abu Dhabi and represented the region in international rugby. When the Arabian Gulf team was broken up into its constituent nations, he opted to play for Scotland instead, and went to the Hong Kong Sevens.

Sophie Shams (England, rugby union)
The daughter of an English mother and Emirati father, Shams excelled at rugby in Dubai, then after attending university in the UK played for England at sevens.

EMIRATES'S REVISED A350 DEPLOYMENT SCHEDULE

Edinburgh: November 4 (unchanged)

Bahrain: November 15 (from September 15); second daily service from January 1

Kuwait: November 15 (from September 16)

Mumbai: January 1 (from October 27)

Ahmedabad: January 1 (from October 27)

Colombo: January 2 (from January 1)

Muscat: March 1 (from December 1)

Lyon: March 1 (from December 1)

Bologna: March 1 (from December 1)

Source: Emirates

Points Classification after Stage 1

1. Geraint Thomas (Britain / Team Sky) 20

2. Stefan Kueng (Switzerland / BMC Racing) 17

3. Vasil Kiryienka (Belarus / Team Sky) 15

4. Tony Martin (Germany / Katusha) 13

5. Matteo Trentin (Italy / Quick-Step) 11

6. Chris Froome (Britain / Team Sky) 10

7. Jos van Emden (Netherlands / LottoNL) 9

8. Michal Kwiatkowski (Poland / Team Sky) 8

9. Marcel Kittel (Germany / Quick-Step) 7

10. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Norway / Dimension Data) 6

The Kitchen

Director: Daniel Kaluuya, Kibwe Tavares

Stars: Kane Robinson, Jedaiah Bannerman, Hope Ikpoku Jnr, Fiona Marr

Rating: 3/5