2011 was a good year for HSBC’s 70%-owned subsidiary Dar Es Salam Bank (BDSI). Full-year operating and pre-tax profit rose 921% and 877%, respectively, with almost all of this gain occurring in the second half. Year-end deposits and lending were up 70% and 81% over December, 2010. Operating profit came in at IQD 9.4 bn, […]
Analysts at HSBC have reviewed on Monday the prospects for companies operating in the Iraqi oil sector, and issued new price targets: Afren: reduces its discounted-cash-flow-(DCF)-based target price to 175p from 179p, and maintains an overweight rating; Dana Gas: maintains an overweight rating and a sum-of-the-parts-(SOTP)-based target of AED 0.64; Genel Energy: initiates coverage with […]
Reuters, citing banking sources familiar with the matter, reports that Qatar Telecom (Qtel) plans to buy out a private equity partner's 19-percent stake in Iraqi telecoms operator Asiacell. Qtel, the Gulf state's former monopoly, has a 30-percent stake in Asiacell, Iraq's number two operator, while its partner MerchantBridge owns 19 percent. Morgan Stanley is reportedly […]
Dar Es Salaam Investment Bank, a 70.1% owned subsidiary of HSBC Asia Holdings BV, has sold its 19.465% equity interest in Iraqi insurance company Dar Es Salaam Insurance to Gulf Insurance Company for a cash consideration of IQD1.557bn (approximately US$1.33m). The sale took place on 18 December 2011 and represents the disposal of a non-core […]
Asiacell has selected HSBC and Morgan Stanley to manage its initial public offering (IPO) on the Iraqi bourse, according to Bloomberg. Chief Executive Officer Diar Ahmed told the news agency that the company will offer 25 percent of its shares, but did not specify when. The company, which is an affiliate of Qatar Telecom, is […]
On June 20, AK News published a cryptic article entitled “Iraq backs global bank’s initiative to encourage investment in stock market.” (See this link.) The Executive Director of the Iraqi Securities Commission (ISC) Abdul Razzaq al-Saadi was reported as saying that the global bank, “HHPT,” had “done the necessary groundwork and pledged to put up […]
On June 7, HSBC announced that it would be subscribing in full to Dar Es Salam Bank’s (BDSI) 46.9% rights issue. The “world’s local bank” will be buying 23.7 bn new BDSI shares at IQD 1 each for the equivalent of about US$ 20.3 mn. (See this link for the announcement .) The HSBC subscription […]
Bloomberg reports that Citigroup, the U.S. bank which earns about a $1 billion in revenue from the Middle East, has hired a former U.S. diplomat to oversee its team in Iraq as the holder of the world’s fourth-biggest oil reserves rebuilds its economy. “We are very optimistic about Iraq over the next three to five […]
The Central Bank of Iraq has instructed private banks to raise at least $7 billion in fresh capital over the next three years to be able to handle an expected oil-fueled construction boom, according to the Wall Street Journal. Ahmed Ibraihi, Vice Governor of the Central Bank of Iraq, told the newspaper on Wednesday that […]
The largest ever British trade delegation to visit the Kurdistan Region last week participated in Erbil International Fair. The delegation was lead by Sir Andrew Cahn, the Chief Executive of UK Trade and Investment (UKTI), the British government department that spearheads international trade with the UK. The mission comprised 53 representatives from 39 British companies […]
Speaking at the Reuters Middle East Investment Summit this week, business leaders expressed their opinions about Iraq. They were keen to invest in the Iraqi market in sectors including energy, telecoms, finance and infrastructure: "Iraq is a country emerging from a difficult period, it's getting back on track and it's a country that cannot be […]
Last month, Central Bank of Iraq governor Al-Shibibi told AFP he was hoping foreign banks would play a bigger role in developing Iraq’s financial system. From the banks’ point of view, he said, “the prospects are good, except for security.” But the foreign institutions that have already entered the Iraqi market through investments in local […]
