Drydocks World has called in the American financial group Citibank to help it refinance its US$2.3 billion of debt.
DDW, under the chairmanship of Abdulrahman Al Saleh, the director general of the Dubai Department of Finance, has hired the restructuring advisers at Citi’s Middle East unit, which is based in the emirate, to seek a better deal from its creditors.
The marine engineering group, part of the Dubai World conglomerate, sealed a deal in 2012 to push back maturities on $2.3bn in two tranches. It is believed Citi will be focusing on the $800 million of bank debt due for repayment in 2017. The rest matures in 2027.
A DDW spokesman declined to confirm the appointment, as did a spokesman for Citibank.
But a source close to the company said that the American bank had been retained to work on the refinancing, which has been the subject of speculation for the past few months.
An executive from a creditor bank also confirmed the appointment of Citi, although he declined to comment.
DDW believes the economic and financial climate – with Dubai’s economy growing against a backdrop of historically low interest rates – provides an opportunity to refinance the debt on better terms than in 2012.
At that time, DDW became the first and only part of Dubai World to use the provisions of Decree 57, the emirate’s bankruptcy law put in place to deal with the parent company’s $25bn restructuring.
In recent trading updates, creditors have been told that the UAE business is operating satisfactorily. Some had feared a fall-off in the crucial work for oil services companies after the fall in crude prices.
There were challenging conditions, however, in DDW’s South East Asian operations, creditors were told. Borrowing before the financial crisis to invest in yards in Indonesia was the main reason for the 2012 refinancing.
fkane@thenational.ae
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Company Profile:
Name: The Protein Bakeshop
Date of start: 2013
Founders: Rashi Chowdhary and Saad Umerani
Based: Dubai
Size, number of employees: 12
Funding/investors: $400,000 (2018)
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Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989
Director: Goran Hugo Olsson
Rating: 5/5
Racecard
6.30pm: The Madjani Stakes (PA) Group 3 Dh175,000 (Dirt) 1,900m
7.05pm: Maiden (TB) Dh165,000 (D) 1,400m
7.40pm: Maiden (TB) Dh165,000 (D) 1,600m
8.15pm: Handicap (TB) Dh190,000 (D) 1,200m
8.50pm: Dubai Creek Mile (TB) Listed Dh265,000 (D) 1,600m
9.25pm: Handicap (TB) Dh190,000 (D) 1,600m
The National selections
6.30pm: Chaddad
7.05pm: Down On Da Bayou
7.40pm: Mass Media
8.15pm: Rafal
8.50pm: Yulong Warrior
9.25pm: Chiefdom
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The stats
Ship name: MSC Bellissima
Ship class: Meraviglia Class
Delivery date: February 27, 2019
Gross tonnage: 171,598 GT
Passenger capacity: 5,686
Crew members: 1,536
Number of cabins: 2,217
Length: 315.3 metres
Maximum speed: 22.7 knots (42kph)
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The Perfect Couple
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber, Jack Reynor
Creator: Jenna Lamia
Rating: 3/5
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The specs
Engine: 2-litre or 3-litre 4Motion all-wheel-drive Power: 250Nm (2-litre); 340 (3-litre) Torque: 450Nm Transmission: 8-speed automatic Starting price: From Dh212,000 On sale: Now
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The biog
Name: Salvador Toriano Jr
Age: 59
From: Laguna, The Philippines
Favourite dish: Seabass or Fish and Chips
Hobbies: When he’s not in the restaurant, he still likes to cook, along with walking and meeting up with friends.
Ultra processed foods
- Carbonated drinks, sweet or savoury packaged snacks, confectionery, mass-produced packaged breads and buns
- margarines and spreads; cookies, biscuits, pastries, cakes, and cake mixes, breakfast cereals, cereal and energy bars;
- energy drinks, milk drinks, fruit yoghurts and fruit drinks, cocoa drinks, meat and chicken extracts and instant sauces
- infant formulas and follow-on milks, health and slimming products such as powdered or fortified meal and dish substitutes,
- many ready-to-heat products including pre-prepared pies and pasta and pizza dishes, poultry and fish nuggets and sticks, sausages, burgers, hot dogs, and other reconstituted meat products, powdered and packaged instant soups, noodles and desserts.
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Greatest of All Time
Starring: Vijay, Sneha, Prashanth, Prabhu Deva, Mohan
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Dubai works towards better air quality by 2021
Dubai is on a mission to record good air quality for 90 per cent of the year – up from 86 per cent annually today – by 2021.
The municipality plans to have seven mobile air-monitoring stations by 2020 to capture more accurate data in hourly and daily trends of pollution.
These will be on the Palm Jumeirah, Al Qusais, Muhaisnah, Rashidiyah, Al Wasl, Al Quoz and Dubai Investment Park.
“It will allow real-time responding for emergency cases,” said Khaldoon Al Daraji, first environment safety officer at the municipality.
“We’re in a good position except for the cases that are out of our hands, such as sandstorms.
“Sandstorms are our main concern because the UAE is just a receiver.
“The hotspots are Iran, Saudi Arabia and southern Iraq, but we’re working hard with the region to reduce the cycle of sandstorm generation.”
Mr Al Daraji said monitoring as it stood covered 47 per cent of Dubai.
There are 12 fixed stations in the emirate, but Dubai also receives information from monitors belonging to other entities.
“There are 25 stations in total,” Mr Al Daraji said.
“We added new technology and equipment used for the first time for the detection of heavy metals.
“A hundred parameters can be detected but we want to expand it to make sure that the data captured can allow a baseline study in some areas to ensure they are well positioned.”