The announcement by Prince Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud's Kingdom Holding of a cash offer to buy shares in its subsidiary Kingdom Hotel Investments (KHI) represents another major blow for NASDAQ Dubai, which has struggled with low activity since its launch.
Kingdom Holding said yesterday it would offer US$5 in cash for each KHI share.
Analysts said that anaemic trading on NASDAQ Dubai was a major factor for the offer.
KHI is also listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE), but its primary listing is on NASDAQ Dubai.
KHI yesterday reported preliminary results for last year, and said it booked a profit of $21.8 million, up 27 per cent from 2008.
"We expect a shy and cautious recovery in a number of our markets [this year]," Sarmad Zok, the chief executive of KHI, said yesterday.
Ali Khan, the managing director of Arqaam Capital, said: "We are seeing a trend here that companies listed do appear to be frustrated with the liquidity."
The ports operator DP World and the interiors contractor Depa, which are also listed on NASDAQ Dubai, have indicated they are looking for ways to increase liquidity.
DP World announced in January it was seeking a listing on the LSE.
NASDAQ Dubai, which was launched in 2005 as the Dubai International Financial Exchange, has struggled to attract listings and to expand trading activity.
"Limited liquidity and low trading volumes have affected and are likely to continue to affect the share price," Kingdom Holding said.
John Sfakianakis, the chief economist at Banque Saudi Fransi, said the move by Kingdom Holding was also likely to be part of a broader process of consolidation at the company.
KHI owns 27 hotels, including the Four Seasons George V in Paris.
@Email:rbundhun@thenational.ae
ELIO
Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett
Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina
Rating: 4/5
Founders: Ines Mena, Claudia Ribas, Simona Agolini, Nourhan Hassan and Therese Hundt
Date started: January 2017, app launched November 2017
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Private/Retail/Leisure
Number of Employees: 18 employees, including full-time and flexible workers
Funding stage and size: Seed round completed Q4 2019 - $1m raised
Funders: Oman Technology Fund, 500 Startups, Vision Ventures, Seedstars, Mindshift Capital, Delta Partners Ventures, with support from the OQAL Angel Investor Network and UAE Business Angels
Step by step
2070km to run
38 days
273,600 calories consumed
28kg of fruit
40kg of vegetables
45 pairs of running shoes
1 yoga matt
1 oxygen chamber
Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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Company profile
Name: Steppi
Founders: Joe Franklin and Milos Savic
Launched: February 2020
Size: 10,000 users by the end of July and a goal of 200,000 users by the end of the year
Employees: Five
Based: Jumeirah Lakes Towers, Dubai
Financing stage: Two seed rounds – the first sourced from angel investors and the founders' personal savings
Second round raised Dh720,000 from silent investors in June this year
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Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
Available: Now
If you go
The flights
There are direct flights from Dubai to Sofia with FlyDubai (www.flydubai.com) and Wizz Air (www.wizzair.com), from Dh1,164 and Dh822 return including taxes, respectively.
The trip
Plovdiv is 150km from Sofia, with an hourly bus service taking around 2 hours and costing $16 (Dh58). The Rhodopes can be reached from Sofia in between 2-4hours.
The trip was organised by Bulguides (www.bulguides.com), which organises guided trips throughout Bulgaria. Guiding, accommodation, food and transfers from Plovdiv to the mountains and back costs around 170 USD for a four-day, three-night trip.
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