SABB

SABB has been presented with the Global Finance award for Best Trade Finance Provider in Saudi Arabia. The award, made in recognition of SABB’s achievements in supporting the international and domestic trade finance needs of Saudi companies, was received by Adel M. Al-Nasser, deputy MD, and Arup Roy, head of Global Transaction Banking, from Joseph D. Giarraputo, publisher and editorial director, Global Finance. The ceremony took place on the sidelines of the recent 2009 World Bank Group/IMF annual meetings in Istanbul, one of the most significant annual events in the global financial calendar. Al-Nasser said: “SABB is extremely proud of winning the award and receiving it at such an important gathering. It is a reflection of what our customers have been telling us in our surveys — the high value they place on the superiority of our products and our service standards.”

VINNAPAS

The first Vinnapas symposium, hosted by Wacker Polymers, Wacker Silicones and their partners Poraver, Kerneos and m-tec, was held in Jeddah recently. The event focused on the need to inform all building and industry-related professionals on the standards governing the use of cementitious products in the Kingdom, as well as to demonstrate the role of Vinnapas polymer powders in improving construction performance. Representatives of the Jeddah Municipality and the Saudi Arabian Standardization Organization (SASO) evinced interest in setting higher standards in the industry. In his keynote address, Dimitrios Moussios, marketing and business development manager of construction polymers for Wacker Chemicals Middle East, highlighted the advantages of using the flagship range of Vinnapas polymer powders in applications including self-leveling flooring compounds, tile adhesives and grouts, and cementitious sealing slurries, in the early stages of construction.

WEPower 2010

The 2010 WEPower conference and exhibition will be held from June 6-8 at Dhahran International Exhibitions Centre, Dammam. WEPower 2009 witnessed 120 international exhibitors enjoy three days, attracting 2,500 visitors of the highest quality. Majid Hafeez of RTIC-RTV said: “The participation at WEPower 2010 exhibition will help to open more doors for cooperation between the industry giants.” The water and power industry within the GCC has attracted investors from across the globe, with 2009 setting a benchmark in development with $220 billion in Saudi Arabia alone. This industry is growing at an extremely fast rate, with cleaner water and renewable power at the top of the agenda, and 2010 will see another huge year in investment. The conference agenda will be targeted at a technical audience, keeping strategic, long-term values at the forefront of discussions.

ZAIN

AiwaGulf, described as the first company in the Middle East specialized in added value services (AVS) to mobile phones, has been selected by Zain, a leading mobile communications company in Kuwait, as one of the best companies for generating added services revenues for Q3 2009. AiwaGulf Regional Marketing Manager Ghassan Rahim said: “We won this position despite the intense competition witnessed in the AVS in Kuwait that is heated day by day with the increasing number of companies offering this range of services.” The company is providing new and updated services, which continue to keep it at the forefront of VAS companies dealing with ZAIN,” Rahim added. In the coming months, AiwaGulf consumers will witness further innovative and new services, some of which are deemed to be entirely new to the Kuwaiti market, which is considered as one of the most active and fastest growing markets in the region with regard to added value services rendered through mobile phone devices.

GFH

Bahrain-headquartered Gulf Finance House (GFH), a leading Middle Eastern Islamic investment bank, said receipts from the rights issue have now crossed the $200 million mark. The news comes just days after the bank confirmed it had received approximately $150 million from the capital raising exercise, which means GFH has now met its target of between $200 and $300 million in fresh capital from the rights issue, a day before its close on Thursday (Oct. 29). The rights issue is a major contributor to the broader GFH capital management plan that includes the planned placement of a $100 million dollar convertible murabaha facility with Macquarie Group and the sale of non-core assets that so far has netted $50 million from the partial sale of Qinvest to QIB. The new capital will be deployed within a newly restructured GFH business model designed to extract maximum value from existing projects and diversify its Islamic banking offering across three dedicated banking units. “Over the past few weeks we’ve been humbled by the extraordinary support of our shareholders in this rights issue,” said GFH Group CEO, Ahmed Fahour.

MOBILY

Etihad Etisalat (Mobily) has offered 50 percent discount on national and international voice calls to all its new subscribers. Mobily said that all new customers subscribing to Mobily postpaid packages during the promotion period would be eligible for 50 percent discount on all their on-net and international calls for three consecutive months during weekdays. This discount will not be applied on weekends. The new promotion applies only to Mobily postpaid packages of (Blue Wave, Najma, Khatty and Kahtty plus) and it will be running for three months from the subscription date. Meanwhile, Mobily announced that it secured a SR900 million from SABB as medium term financing to support the capital expenditure of its owned subsidiary Bayanat Al-Oula. Mobily said the 66-month financing has been arranged on clean and unsecured basis on Bayanat’s balance sheet. It also added that the new financing will assist the company to expand its WiMax network geographic coverage to 20 cities from nine currently.

FARJAM

The Farjam Collection launches new educational programs to coincide with the unveiling of four exquisite additions to its Qur’an exhibition. Extended due to popular demand, the exhibition now features one of the only existing Qur’an written in Nastaliq script, as well as rare and precious Qur’an from Andalusia, Mamluk Egypt, Mughal India. The Farjam Collection’s School and University Programmes, launched recently received an unprecedented amount of attention. Children enjoyed tailor-made activity sheets developed in collaboration with START, while university students were treated to personalized guided tours. The Farjam Collection’s program in collaboration with START meets both these criteria. “The response we have had has been extremely positive. The commitment from teachers and parents as well as the enthusiasm we have seen from the children has been immensely rewarding. We are very excited about running more of these programs in November,” commented Emilie Faure, collections and exhibitions manager, the Farjam Collection.

IDA WORLD CONGRESS

The IDA World Congress 2009 will open on Saturday (Nov. 7). The five-day event, organized with the support of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE vice president, prime minister and ruler of Dubai, and hosted by the Dubai Institute of Technology — TechnoPark, the science and technology facilitator of Economic Zones World, will take place in the period at Atlantis, The Palm. The conference and exhibition will attract more than 1,800 delegates from around the world. The congress will feature 26 technical sessions, 240 presentations, lectures, round table discussions, interactive sessions, workshops and concurrent exhibition. Members of the committee voiced their satisfaction over the progress being made by the various sub-committees responsible for the logistical and other arrangements.