Iraq Business News brings you the latest news of investments in Iraq, highlighting the many opportunities that exist.
Recently ISX CEO Taha Ahmed Abdul Salam told reporters that foreigners now hold 19% of ISX-listed shares. (See this link.) This seems like a big percentage but in fact reveals that foreign institutional participation in the market remains quite limited. As of the end of last month, strategic shareholders in the eight foreign-invested banks held […]
Zain's Iraq subsidiary is preparing for an initial public offering (IPO) on the Iraq Stock Exchange that will raise an estimated $80 million [96 billion Iraqi dinars] for a 20% stake, the Kuwait Arabic daily al-Qabas reports. As a condition of its operating licence, the company is required to list its shares on the Iraqi […]
The Iraq Stock Exchange has announced that it has launched the dissemination of real time and delayed Iraq Stock Exchange (ISX) market data in conjunction with DirectFN, popularly known as Mubasher in the Middle East. The launch is part of the ISX plan to allow local and foreign investors to view real-time stock prices for […]
On June 7, HSBC announced that it would be subscribing in full to Dar Es Salam Bank’s (BDSI) 46.9% rights issue. The “world’s local bank” will be buying 23.7 bn new BDSI shares at IQD 1 each for the equivalent of about US$ 20.3 mn. (See this link for the announcement .) The HSBC subscription […]
On May 30 Rabee Securities’ new office in Erbil successfully connected to the ISX network and began trading. This was an important step forward for the stock exchange. For the first time, a brokerage branch outside Baghdad is now online. In a country like Iraq, the expansion of brokers’ branch networks to other cities is […]
By T. Keyzom Ngodup, co-founder and Executive Director at Ideas sYnergy, an Iraq based private sector development consulting company. Most development agendas for Iraq putatively support entrepreneurship and the need to support private sector development through its focus on the growing number of unemployed youth in the country. UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) recently […]
In March ISX-listed Qimma Financial Investment (VQUF) announced that Warka Bank’s majority shareholder, Saad Al Bunnia, had appointed it to “begin a formal auction process following a due diligence report carried out by Price Waterhouse Coopers.” The announcement, which was posted on Qimma’s website, went on to say that Mr. Bunnia was “interested in entertaining […]
Rabee Securities has announced the opening of a new branch office in Erbil, in Iraqi Kurdistan. The company statement says that the "city of Erbil is fast becoming a commercial and industrial hub in Iraq. Rabee Securities' Erbil branch will be the first branch of an ISX licensed broker dealer to start operations in this […]
The Iraqi government is increasing spending by about 25% next year to USD98.45bn, but higher oil prices will still allow it to balance its books for the first time, reports Reuters. Next year's budget will be based on an oil price of $85, due to consistently high oil prices at $100 or more. Even after […]
Czech prime minister Petr Nečas brought a large delegation of businessmen, as well as the minister of defense and the minister of trade and industry, with him to Iraq this week, according to Aswat Al-Iraq. Revealing his commitment and belief in the economic benefits of a good relationship with Iraq, the Czech premier announced that his country […]
Last August, the government announced it was making available a total of US$ 300 mn to renovate six Baghdad hotels in preparation for the Arab League Summit. The six—the ISX-listed Palestine (HPAL), Babylon (HBAY), Baghdad (HBAG), Mansour (HMAN), and Ishtar Sheraton (HISH) hotels, and the unlisted Rashid Hotel—were to receive 75% of the new funding […]
Just this week, we have seen a United Arab Emirates firm invest in a new Iraqi oil refinery, a German company discussing investing in Basram, and a Korean company building 25 power stations. On top of that, there have been Iranian gas deals amd Saudi Arabian interest in Iraqi telecoms, plus both British and Turkish […]
