BisB
Marina West and Bahrain Islamic Bank (BisB), the flagship of Islamic Banking in Bahrain, has signed a memorandum of understanding, which will allow Bahrainis and expatriates to purchase homes at the country’s premier beachfront development. The deal comes as part of Marina West’s initiative to offer varied finance options to the public, making a marina lifestyle accessible to everyone. The signing ceremony was held at Marina West’s headquarters and was attended by Abdul-Rahman Turki, GM retails at BisB, and Mahmood Janahi, MD, Marina West real estate project. As part of the deal, BisB is offering long-term Islamic mortgage facilities for Bahrain’s expatriates and GCC nationals. Marina West buyers choosing BisB Islamic mortgage financing will benefit from affordable installments, as well as some of the lowest arrangement fees available in the market and attractive profit rates. “BisB has a strong history in the Kingdom, and an excellent reputation in the wider Middle East,” Janahi said.
Emaar
The Economic City (Emaar EC), the Tadawul-listed company developing King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC), is highlighting the tourism initiatives and investment opportunities within KAEC at the Saudi Travel & Tourism Investment Market 2008 (STTIM), being held in Riyadh until March 27 with the support of Riyadh Gov. Prince Salman. The event, organized by Supreme Commission for Tourism (SCT), is focused on growth strategies for the travel and tourism sector, and the investment opportunities in the sector. Prince Sultan ibn Salman, secretary-general of SCT, said: “STTIM 2008 highlights the importance of the tourism and travel sector to the Kingdom’s economy and future growth plans. The participation of Emaar EC at STTIM reiterates the essential role that the private sector plays in strengthening the tourism sector.” Fahd Al-Rasheed, CEO of Emaar EC said: “The tourism sector is one of the most important sectors in terms of creating investment opportunities and generating promising jobs.”
Suzuki
Suzuki Motor Corporation’s concept “Kizashi 3” has made its international debut at the New York International Auto Show. The sleek and athletic concept car is the latest addition to Suzuki’s highly acclaimed series of concept cars that include the concept Kizashi and concept Kizashi 2. Suzuki is now moving forward with the third phase of its world strategy, a phase in which it will enter the D-segment (midsize segment). The concept Kizashi series was developed to reflect a “dynamic athlete in motion,” taking its design cues from a strong, honed physique while displaying the performance, strength and style befitting a flagship vehicle. It symbolizes both Suzuki’s future design direction and stated intent to enter the D-segment category. The concept Kizashi 3 represents a closer-to-production vision of a future Suzuki sport sedan offering. The concept Kizashi’s “supersport” identity, a core component of the Suzuki brand DNA, is tempered by the design’s overall impression of strong, refined urban performance.
RAKIA
Ras Al-Khaimah Investment Authority (RAKIA), the government body responsible for the socioeconomic growth of the emirate, in partnership with the Indian Business & Professional Council (IBPC), organized a seminar on investment opportunities in Ras Al-Khaimah yesterday. IBPC’s President Abbas Mirza and Secretary-General Navin Kapoor, RAKIA’s CEO Dr. Khater Massaad and Executive Director Serge Guillaume, Peter Schuster, GM, RAK Offshore, and Indian Ambassador to the UAE Talmiz Ahmad were among the speakers. In his keynote address, Dr. Massaad spoke about the long-standing trade relations between the UAE and India, and highlighted the ever-increasing potential for investment opportunities for Indian companies in the emirate. “The UAE has trade relations with India since several decades, making the South Asian country one of the oldest trading partners of the UAE. The UAE has emerged as the second largest market globally for Indian products. Indo-UAE trade is now valued at over $18 billion,” he said.
Noortech
Noortech, a major physical security systems integrator, has been awarded a new physical security project by Saudi Customs. The project, which is expected to be completed within two weeks, is located at one of Saudi Customs facilities in Riyadh. Waheeb Khateeb, a system’s consultant at Noortech who negotiated the deal, said that given the fact that this was yet another repeated order from such a government entity is a valuable endorsement for our relentless efforts to adhere to the highest standards of service. He added that in addition to Saudi Customs, Noortech is being retained by a growing number of government and private sector bodies to cater to their physical security systems need. “We are quite pleased that Noortech continues to be recognized as a distinguished systems supplier in a sector where reliability is crucial,” Noortech Executive Director Hani Bakr said. By capitalizing on the growing recognition of its products and services, Noortech has been expanding its market base, says Reda Islam, assistant to director general for technology at Yanbu Cement Company, which was one of Noortech’s very first customers.
Shaikh Holdings/Arabtec
Shaikh Holdings, a major Dubai-based real estate investment and development company, has awarded Arabtec Construction LLC an AED412 million contract to commence construction of its prestigious Sanctuary Falls villa development, a landmark boutique community in Jumeirah Golf Estates. The award-winning AED850 million Sanctuary Falls project aims to create a new benchmark in community living by being the first resort-style residential golf community in the UAE. Launched in July 2007, the development has already received keen interest from both local and international homebuyers and was awarded “Best Golf Development” in the CNBC Arabian Property Awards 2007. Arabtec will commence construction of the 96 distinctly styled resort villas of Sanctuary Falls in April 2008, and expects completion by first quarter 2010. “We have taken our time to research and appoint the best quality contractors and subcontractors as our partners for the Sanctuary Falls development,” said Imran Shaikh, CEO, Shaikh Holdings.
SMART Technologies
SMART Technologies has announced its continued leadership regarding the number of interactive whiteboards installed in education institutions around the world. The data comes from a recently released report from Decision Tree Consulting (DTC), an industry-leading UK research company that has documented interactive whiteboard sales for eight years. The report also noted that SMART increased its 2007 product category share in the education segment by 4.4 points over 2006. The company’s closest competitor has less than half of SMART’s category share. SMART now holds 53 percent of the product category share in the education segment in the US and 57 percent in the UK. DTC noted that 377,000 interactive whiteboards were sold to education institutions in 2007. DTC forecasts that the worldwide interactive whiteboard category will increase by 200 percent in the next five years. “SMART continues to lead the interactive whiteboard product category in education with strong sales around the world,” said Nancy Knowlton, SMART’s CEO.
SABB
SABB has participated in the “Earth Hour 2008,” run by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the conservation organization. Earth Hour is a global climate change initiative to combat global warming. The campaign calls on individuals and establishments to turn off the non-essential lights for an hour – between 8 pm and 9 pm — to deliver a powerful message about the need for action on global warming. “The aim of the campaign is to express that individual action on a mass scale can help change our planet for the better,” Ibrahim S. Abo-Mouti, head of corporate communications at SABB, said. “SABB’s participation in this campaign comes as part of its “SABB in the Community Program” and an attempt on our side to promote environmental awareness among individuals and their role towards preserving the environment, and also help in enhancing their roles as friends of the environment.” “SABB is one of the first Saudi establishments and companies to participate in the “Earth Hour.”
Castrol
Castrol has a worldwide partnership with Land Rover and Jaguar and is official lubricant partner. In Saudi Arabia, Al-Saif Motors, the sole distributor of Land Rover and Jaguar and Castrol, enjoys a very close relationship. To enhance this association and offer the Saudi people a chance to watch and enjoy the Euro 2008 football tournament, Castrol, an official global sponsor of UEFA EURO 2008, and Al-Saif Motors have introduced a consumer promotion “Win with Castrol SLX Professional.” The promotion continues till April 9. Each consumer who changes Castrol SLX Professional oil at Al Saif Motors will instantly get a free Castrol official UEFA Euro 2008TM football. Two winners will also get a chance to enjoy a five-star round trip to Vienna, Austria to watch the quarterfinals of Euro 2008. The partnership with UEFA EURO 2008 provides a showcase to project the brands values of passion, technical progress and performance that it shares with football.