Biggest Abu Dhabi Wealth Fund Expands Foray Into Private Markets – Bloomberg — www.bloomberg.com
Highlights:
– The fund’s private equity department committed more capital than ever before last year with 24 investments, up from 18 in 2019. Direct investments and co-investments represented 55% of its overall deployment for 2020, up from 45% in 2019, with the balance committed to funds.
– The promise of higher returns at a time of extra low-interest rates is prompting the $10 trillion wealth fund industry to shift more capital into private markets that tend to be less liquid but offer steady cash flows for decades.
– Besides developed markets equities, which make up as much as 42% of ADIA’s portfolio, the fund holds bonds, alternative assets, real estate, private equity, infrastructure and cash.
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Billion-Dollar Listings Help Abu Dhabi Catch Up With Riyadh – Bloomberg — www.bloomberg.com
Highlights:
– The listings in Abu Dhabi come amid a push from the oil-rich emirate to revive the local bourse. Satellite operator Yahsat kicked off the IPO frenzy in July, becoming the first listing on the exchange in nearly four years.
– Since then, deals worth billions have been announced. On Monday, Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. said it’s planning to sell shares in its drilling unit in what would rank among the largest initial public offerings in the United Arab Emirates. A day later, sovereign wealth fund ADQ announced plans to list Abu Dhabi Ports before the end of the year.
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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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Saudi Arabia Bans Ministers From Sitting on Company Boards – Bloomberg — www.bloomberg.com
Highlights:
– Any minister is not allowed to chair the board of any company or serve as a member,” the government said. “This does not include those whose chairmanship or membership is by order from the prime minister.”
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Lebanon’s Billionaire Premier Aims to Halt Economic ‘Fire’ – Bloomberg — www.bloomberg.com
Highlights:
– I have the needed international support from the EU, and particularly from France,” Najib Mikati, a billionaire and two-time former premier who was appointed this week, said in a phone interview. “And I’m confident the U.S. will be open to support as well,” he said, beyond the assistance Washington already gives to Lebanon’s army.
– I can’t put out the fire,” Mikati said Wednesday, promising to lead from the front. “But I can stop it from spreading, and that’s what I intend to do and hope to do in the first 100 days in office.”
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Hezbollah Tightens Its Grip on Sinking Lebanon – Bloomberg — www.bloomberg.com
Highlights:
– The most basic foods have become political assets in economically devastated Lebanon. And no one’s tapped that currency of oil, milk and bread-like Iran-backed Hezbollah.
– A 36-year-old Lebanese father of two who opposes the group but lives in one of its strongholds said he was forced to turn to Hezbollah to survive. Relatives got him a card that won access to the group’s discount warehouses in his Shiite community stocked with goods from Lebanon, Syria and Iran.
– Without a political alternative, supporters and sympathizers won’t turn against it, said Joseph Daher, author of “Hezbollah: The Political Economy of Lebanon’s Party of God.”
– Sami Nader, head of the Beirut-based Levant Institute research center. “But the crisis has shown them that they can’t completely replace the state,” he added. “They’re suffering a little less than others but this is not sustainable.”
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Letter Requesting Donation for School
Our school “Lady of the Tower School for the Sisters of the Holy Family” is located in Bekaa- Lebanon in the district of Deir El Ahmar. — atiejelmouallem.com
Its ultimate goal is our children’s spiritual and educational lives.
From 1932 till now, our school still taking care of poor children, but due to the economic circumstances in Lebanon in general, and in our school in particular, we require your generous attention in the form of donations.
Your donation and help can bring a smile to thousands of faces by helping them to achieve a good life and to continue their learning in our school.
Learn more.
How Much Do Social Media Influencers Make Promoting Wall Street Products? – Bloomberg — www.bloomberg.com
Highlights:
– At first, no one could explain why business was picking up at Betterment, a Robo adviser aimed at newbie investors. There were about 10,000 signups in one day.
– Then came the answer: A 25-year-old TikToker from Tennessee was posting videos describing how to retire a millionaire by using the platform.
– His name is Austin Hankwitz, and he’s managed to land one of the hottest new gigs: full-time “finfluencer.”
– Influencers like Hankwitz can translate concepts like passive investing or tax harvesting into digestible social media videos using playful twists, music and colourful captions, making investment products and the like feel accessible to millennials and Gen Z-ers.
– Hankwitz charges anywhere from $4,500 to $8,000 per post on his TikTok page.
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This Glencore Oil Trader Paid Millions in African Bribes – and He Wasn’t Alone – Bloomberg — www.bloomberg.com
Highlights:
– AnthonyStimler’s cooperation deal, obtained from the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan and which haven’t been reported before, offers a rare opportunity to see how it works — the scale, scope and almost routine nature of such transactions.
– Briefcase companies act as conduits for traders’ bribes to officials, taking a cut and directing state business back to the traders. Glencore was a dominant player in Nigeria, Chad, the Republic of Congo and Equatorial Guinea.
– An issue that comes up with trader corruption is agents and intermediaries in the mix,” said Alexandra Gillies, an adviser at the Natural Resource Governance Institute, which seeks to stamp out corruption in emerging-market resources.
– We don’t have any intermediaries in our oil business,” Gary Nagle, Glencore’s new chief executive said. “It’s a different business model to what we used five to 10 years ago. We don’t plan to use them again in our oil business.
– In May, Nigeria’s national oil company released its new list of trading partners for the coming year, coveted contracts to buy its oil and sell it refined gasoline. Glencore was not among them.
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