Iraq Business News brings you the latest news of investments in Iraq, highlighting the many opportunities that exist.
Erbil property has been one of the best investments in Iraq over the past year. While the ISX is up about 50% over the last twelve months, prices for residential and office space in the Kurdish capital have more than doubled. 600 sq m single detached houses in the city’s Italian Village development, for example, […]
The FMG Iraq Fund has grown by + 25% since it began in May 2010. Year to Date the fund is up + 10% and in the month of June it was up by an estimated + 4.1%. The Fund invests mainly in stocks listed on the Iraq Stock Exchange (ISX) and to a lesser degree in off shore listed […]
By T. Keyzom Ngodup, co-founder and Executive Director at Ideas sYnergy, an Iraq based private sector development consulting company. IRAQ INSIGHTS, published by Ideas sYnergy, aims to consolidate and build intellectual capital on private sector development, empowering stakeholders to address issues of access and structural reforms on a diverse range of topics impacting inclusive economic […]
At the end of last month, a spokesman for the Central Bank of Iraq (CBI) told reporters that a plan to redenominate the Iraqi dinar will be presented to the Council of Ministers in the near future. (See here and here.) The Council is then expected to submit the relevant legislation to Parliament for a […]
According to a report from AKNews, 1,602 foreign companies have branches in Iraqi Kurdistan. The latest figures from the Kurdistan Company Registration Directorate show that 18 months ago there were 1027 foreign companies operating in the region, meaning there has been an increase of 55 per cent. There are also 10,100 local companies working side […]
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 […]
