Macron Announces Saudi Intiative to Solve Lebanon Crisis – Bloomberg — www.bloomberg.com
Highlights:
– Macron told reporters in Jeddah that he and the kingdom’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, had called Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati together “to send a clear message that Saudia Arabia and France want to fully engage to support the Lebanese people.”
– In a statement on Twitter, Mikati said the conversation was “an important step to restoring the historic fraternal relations with Saudi Arabia.”
– Macron said that France and Saudi Arabia want Lebanon’s government “to be able to work in a normal way” and called on Beirut to implement “useful reforms”.
– Asked if he had the impression that Saudi Arabia will now re-engage financially in Lebanon, Macron replied: “Yes, this was the commitment made to France and this is what we decided together.”
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Dubai’s $25 Billion State Utility Picks Banks for Record IPO – Bloomberg — www.bloomberg.com
Highlights:
– DEWA has chosen Citigroup Inc., HSBC Holdings Plc and Emirates NBD Bank PJSC to lead the offering.
– It is planning to seek a valuation of around $20 billion to $25 billion.
– Credit Suisse Group AG, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. are among the bookrunners that have been selected to work on the IPO.
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Living at AlJurf
Find Out More About Living at AlJurf
AlJurf Gardens harnesses nature’s raw beauty and combines it with refined heritage-inspired architecture and contemporary design to present a sanctuary of wellness and calm.
Throughout the villa spaces, the refined and controlled raw beauty of nature is repeated in different scales, to showcase its exquisiteness across every typology of homes, gardens and courtyards.
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Foxconn and Saudi in Talks to Form Electric Car Joint Venture, Sources Say – Bloomberg — www.bloomberg.com
Highlights:
– Foxconn will provide software, electronics and electrical architecture for the new EVs and will be a minority stakeholder in the collaboration, according to one of the people. The arrangement will help the country gain experience in manufacturing cars, another person said.
– The joint venture is looking to assemble EVs on a chassis licensed from BMW AG, two people said.
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UAE Moves Weekend Days to Saturday-Sunday, Makes Friday a Half-Day – Bloomberg — www.bloomberg.com
Highlights:
– The changes, which the government said will allow the UAE to align more closely with global markets, will come into effect on Jan. 1 and apply to the public sector and schools. There will be a 4 1/2-day working week with Friday — a holy day in Islam — being a half-day, the federal government said in a statement.
– The government didn’t say whether the private sector would have to adopt the new 4 1/2-day weeks, with the door being left open for private companies to decide how to allocate resources.
– The changes “will increase the number of days we do business with the rest of the world, which will boost trade,” said Nabil Alyousuf, chief executive officer of Dubai-based International Advisory Group.
– Pedro Gomes, an economist at Birkbeck, University of London, and author of the book says “Starting by the public sector is a tactical mistake. It will exacerbate the narrative of the hardworking private sector versus lazy bureaucrats. This is why the Utah 2011 4-day week failed. It should be implemented to the whole economy, giving 4/6 years for the adjustment.”
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EXPERIENCE LIVING IN PIXEL
Pixel is the first mixed-use residential community at Makers District. Pixel offers its residents & visitors a unique space to enrich, collaborate & engage.
Designed as human-scale, the 7 mixed-use residential towers surrounded by quiet pocket gardens have been strategically arranged around a vibrant pedestrianized plaza.
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Banker Cristina Junqueira Quit Job to Found Nubank, and Now She’s a Billionaire – Bloomberg — www.bloomberg.com
Highlights:
– Cristina Junqueira knew she needed to make a change. Tired of selling people products she said they didn’t actually want.
– She met David Velez, a Colombia-born private equity executive who was trying to start a digital bank to compete with Brazil’s behemoth lenders. But he was in need of someone with inside knowledge.
– Fast forward eight years, and the 39-year-old Brazilian is on the cusp of joining an extremely small group of self-made female billionaire bankers.
– When Nu Holdings, the digital bank they created together, prices its initial public offering on Wednesday, Junqueira’s stake could be valued at as much as $1.1 billion.
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Did Purdues’ Sacklers Abuse US Bankruptcy to Avoid Opioid Lawsuits? – Bloomberg — www.bloomberg.com
Highlights:
– A handful of U.S. attorneys general, including those of Connecticut, Delaware and Vermont, allege in court papers that those cash transfers are part of a long-term strategy by the members of the Sackler family to shield their wealth from opioid victims. They want Judge McMahon to reject the settlement.
– The U.S. Trustee — an arm of the Justice Department trying to overturn Purdue’s opioid settlement — is less interested in an explanation for the transfers.
– The majority of Purdue’s creditors and most of the attorneys general in the U.S. support the settlement and don’t want it overturned. In court papers, the drugmaker’s official unsecured creditor body — in charge of looking out for the best interests of almost anyone owed money by Purdue — said it has had the cash transfers at issue in its “cross-hairs” for more than two years.
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Venezuela’s PDVSA Restarts Oil Production With Backpacks of Cash – Bloomberg — www.bloomberg.com
Highlights:
– State-owned Petroleos de Venezuela SA has been pumping about 908,000 barrels a day in the past week, according to people familiar with the matter. With crude near $75 a barrel, it’s a financial lifeline for a nation hobbled by U.S. sanctions and in the throes of a seven-year recession.
– According to people with direct knowledge of the matter, it’s handing out contracts to little-known local companies with the promise of payments in scrap metal, or in some cases, backpacks stuffed with U.S. dollars as sanctions limit Venezuela’s access to banks.
– Venezuela’s production of 908,000 barrels a day is close to that of Oman, a minor oil exporter among its peers in the Middle East. In the golden era of the 1990s, in comparison, Venezuela pumped more than triple that amount.
– While Venezuela focuses on oil fields that are in fairly good condition, dozens of other fields remain shut. PDVSA may still cannibalize those, breaking apart pipes, engines and other equipment it can sell to finance its operations. As long as that occurs, the country’s re-emergence as an oil superpower will remain a distant dream.
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