DAE wins credit to finance aircraft
State-owned Dubai Aerospace Enterprise (DAE) has said it secured export-import credit facilities worth $500 million to finance 10 Boeing aircraft.
The deal, signed with the Export-Import Bank of the US, will support the delivery of aircraft to Emirates airline and Garuda Indonesia.
MAG eyes French factory
UAE-based industrial and property group MAG says it is in ‘initial’ talks with Continental AG to buy a factory in France but too early to talk about striking a deal.
“The MAG Group confirms that it is currently in contact with official authorities in France and with Continental regarding the possible sale of the plant in Clairoix,” MAG said in a statement.
Kanoo seminar held
Kanoo Commercial Group, an engineering solutions provider in the Middle East, held ‘The Casthouse Seminar’ for their customers at the Sheraton Hotel in Bahrain.
Organised jointly with Otto Junker, Kanoo Commercial Group’s vendor partner, it focused on aluminium casthouse and extrusion technology. Senior executives from Otto Junker flew into Bahrain to meet with customers and share their global vision and technologies.
Knauf plant progressing
Knauf has marked the completion of the steel construction phase of its new facilities with a topping ceremony at Ras Al Khaimah (RAK) Free Trade Zone.
The plant will produce building materials such as gypsum boards, metal studs, channels, joint compounds, drywall accessories and plasters.
Its capacity will be approximately 50 million sq m of gypsum boards per year. The Knauf RAK investment is worth Dh500 million ($54.4 million).
Housing market to ‘stabilise’
The US housing market that has badly deteriorated in the past three years will stabilise this summer and the United States will be the first economy to rebound, real estate mogul Sam Zell said.
The dearth of new supply should help the housing market find a bottom, Zell said. US home builders have been forced to severely scale back on new homes, to an estimated 350,000 this year at current construction rates from 1.7 million in 2006.
Platinum output down in SA
Production of platinum in South Africa, the world’s top source of platinum, fell 11 per cent or 540,000 ounces last year to 4.53 million ounces, Johnson Matthey said in its Platinum 2009 report.
Power supply constraints in Africa’s biggest economy, flooded mines, industrial unrest, skills shortage plus the temporary closure by government authorities of shafts where fatal accidents had occurred were behind the output drop.
Neighbouring Zimbabwe’s platinum production however was steady last year, despite political and economic upheaval.
Metals refiner Johnson Matthey (JM) said that supplies from Zimbabwe and other producing countries rose by 5,000 ounces to 295,000 ounces last year, brushing aside the political woes that have led to disruption of gold mining.
ArcelorMittal ratings cut
Moody’s Investors Service cut its ratings on ArcelorMittal to the lowest investment grade, citing concerns over the effect weak steel markets will have on the world’s biggest steelmaker’s credit profile.
Moody’s cut ArcelorMittal’s debt rating one notch to Baa3 and gave the company a stable outlook, indicating an additional downgrade is not anticipated over the coming 12-to-18 months.
