Drydocks World has set up a joint venture with Singapore's Kuok Group to run its Asian operations as it works towards completing a massive debt restructuring plan.
Drydocks World has set up a joint venture with Singapore's Kuok Group to run its Asian operations as it works towards completing a huge debt restructuring plan.
The shipbuilding and repair company's Asian business consists of four shipyards in Singapore and Indonesia as well as a fleet of more than 100 tankers, cargo ships, tugboats, barges and other vessels.
The new venture, a partnership with Kuok's Pacific Carrier, will be named DDW-PaxOcean Asia and will be based in Singapore. Drydocks World's chairman, Khamis Juma Buamim, will chair the new company.
"This is joint venture of true value. It is not a takeover. It is not a process where people are running away from their responsibilities or anything like that," Mr Buamim said after the signing.
He added the joint venture would be positive for the company's ongoing US$2.2 billion (Dh8.08bn) debt restructuring and said Drydocks World, based in Dubai, had been working on the deal since at least December, when the possibility of sharing control of its Asian businesses was first discussed.
The new group, to be based in Singapore, will be active in nine countries, own about 300 vessels and operate six shipyards, officials at the two companies said.
However, Drydocks World's huge complex near Dubai's Maritime City - the largest drydocks in the world - will not come under the new joint venture.
No financial details of the deal were disclosed but both companies said the agreement was scheduled to be completed in the third quarter of this year. Pacific Carriers executives declined to say how much of a stake Robert Kuok, a Malaysian tycoon, would have in the venture.
Pacific Carriers is focused on ship management, freight trading and offshore marine services.
Mr Kuok has investments which include the Shangri-La hotel chain as well as the English-language newspaper South China Morning Post, based in Hong Kong, and property holdings around the world.
Drydocks World is owned by the government-controlled conglomerate Dubai World. Most of Drydocks World's creditor banks have already agreed to a deal to draw down its debt, which stems from the financing it needed to raise to purchase the Asian assets in 2007.
The company managed to get more than the required two thirds of lenders to back the scheme. A minority of the creditors, including the hedge fund Monarch Alternative Capital, had resisted the restructuring, said Mr Buamim.
He also confirmed that once the debt deal was complete, the shipyard's focus would be on supplying and servicing the energy sector.
"We had to think seriously what would happen in the next 15 to 25 years, and we plotted it out.
"The data indicated that the only industry that has a growth cycle up to 2030 in some cases is the oil and gas and energy industry," said Mr Buamim.
Dubai World, sent markets reeling in 2009 when it acknowledged it was unable to pay back billions of dollars it owed. It signed an agreement to restructure some $24.9bn in debt last March, however, and Drydocks World was not included in that process.
Drydocks World was advised by DBS Bank, Clifford Chance and McKinsey, while Allen & Gledhill was adviser to Kuok.
A lesson in simple, seasonal eating. Wedges of tomato, chunks of cucumber, thinly sliced red onion, coriander or parsley leaves, and perhaps some fresh dill are drizzled with a crushed walnut and garlic dressing. Do consider yourself warned: if you eat this salad in Georgia during the summer months, the tomatoes will be so ripe and flavourful that every tomato you eat from that day forth will taste lacklustre in comparison.
Badrijani nigvzit
A delicious vegetarian snack or starter. It consists of thinly sliced, fried then cooled aubergine smothered with a thick and creamy walnut sauce and folded or rolled. Take note, even though it seems like you should be able to pick these morsels up with your hands, they’re not as durable as they look. A knife and fork is the way to go.
Pkhali
This healthy little dish (a nice antidote to the khachapuri) is usually made with steamed then chopped cabbage, spinach, beetroot or green beans, combined with walnuts, garlic and herbs to make a vegetable pâté or paste. The mix is then often formed into rounds, chilled in the fridge and topped with pomegranate seeds before being served.
Fraudsters send an unsolicited email that appears to be from a financial institution or online retailer. The hoax email requests that you provide sensitive information, often by clicking on to a link leading to a fake website.
2) Smishing
The SMS equivalent of phishing. Fraudsters falsify the telephone number through “text spoofing,” so that it appears to be a genuine text from the bank.
3) Vishing
The telephone equivalent of phishing and smishing. Fraudsters may pose as bank staff, police or government officials. They may persuade the consumer to transfer money or divulge personal information.
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Fraudsters duplicate the SIM of your mobile number without your knowledge or authorisation, allowing them to conduct financial transactions with your bank.
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Someone illegally obtains your confidential information, through various ways, such as theft of your wallet, bank and utility bill statements, computer intrusion and social networks.
6) Prize scams
Fraudsters claiming to be authorised representatives from well-known organisations (such as Etisalat, du, Dubai Shopping Festival, Expo2020, Lulu Hypermarket etc) contact victims to tell them they have won a cash prize and request them to share confidential banking details to transfer the prize money.
Second Test: July 14-18, Trent Bridge, Nottingham, 2pm
Third Test: The Oval, London, July 27-31, 2pm
Fourth Test: Old Trafford, Manchester, August 4-8
The bio
Favourite book: Peter Rabbit. I used to read it to my three children and still read it myself. If I am feeling down it brings back good memories.
Best thing about your job: Getting to help people. My mum always told me never to pass up an opportunity to do a good deed.
Best part of life in the UAE: The weather. The constant sunshine is amazing and there is always something to do, you have so many options when it comes to how to spend your day.
Favourite holiday destination: Malaysia. I went there for my honeymoon and ended up volunteering to teach local children for a few hours each day. It is such a special place and I plan to retire there one day.
Brief scores:
Scotland 371-5, 50 overs (C MacLeod 140 no, K Coetzer 58, G Munsey 55)
England 365 all out, 48.5 overs (J Bairstow 105, A Hales 52; M Watt 3-55)
Result: Scotland won by six runs
The specs
Engine: Long-range single or dual motor with 200kW or 400kW battery
