KHI
Shares in Kingdom Hotel Investments (KHI) listed yesterday on the Dubai International Financial Exchange (DIFX) following an initial public offering that raised $397 million. The IPO was oversubscribed by 14 times. Henry Azzam, chairman of the DIFX, said: “This primary listing is an enormously significant milestone in the development of the exchange as a listing forum of international stature. It is the first ordinary share listing on the DIFX by any company. In addition the issuer is a very prominent and high profile firm.” “We expect this to be followed by many other significant equity listings. This will enable the DIFX to develop a thriving level of trading in a wide range of securities.” The flotation is the first by a company controlled by Prince Alwaleed ibn Talal. KHI is a major hotel and resort acquisition and development company in the Middle East and Africa, headquartered in the Dubai International Financial Center.
UNITRANS BUDGET
After the unprecedented success of scratch and win launched by the leading car rental company UniTrans Budget Saudi Arabia in the year 2004 and 2005, the company has decided to re-launch this promotion with even better and easier incentives to reward their loyal customers. This new promotional campaign titled “Scratch & Win Car Festival”, means greater opportunities to UniTrans Budget customers to win fabulous prizes. The promotion is valid from Feb. 1 till May 31 at all UniTrans Budget rental locations in the Kingdom and applicable on all vehicle groups for minimum rental of 2 days and above. Each time a customer rents a car from UniTrans Budget, he will receive a scratch and win coupon. This gives everyone a greater opportunity to immediately win a cash discount. In addition to that, all scratched-coupons qualify for a monthly prize draw to win one of the selected prizes of 25 brand new cars model 2006 including Chevrolet, Toyota, Honda, Renault, Mazda and Citroen, as well as laptops, TVs, digital cameras and DVD’s.
SIEMENS GIGASET
“The world’s first” Arabic-enabled cordless range of phones from Siemens Gigaset was launched in Jeddah on Monday. The range includes three superior models, senior executives of Siemens Home and Office Communication Devices told a press conference at Le Jeddah Meridien. The models include S445, C355 and C350. The Gigaset range is part of the digital enhanced cordless telecommunication (DECT), offering outstanding audio quality and maximum call privacy. “It also provides multilink and multi-handset facilities within 50 meters indoor and 300 meters outdoor,” Siemens Product Manager Ayman Chalhoub said in his presentation. “All this, in addition to an Arabic-enabled menu that allows you to go cordless in Arabic,” he added. Siemens Gigaset DECT phones’ superiority is embodied in their natural voice flow free of noise interference, clicking or fluctuations and their improved resistance against heat, breakage and the high operating temperature. Siemens Gigaset S445 is the “ultimate high-tech phone” with superior audio quality in a graceful silver color with an Arabic-enabled menu. Designed for indoor cordless communication, the S445 is enhanced with an integrated answering machine, room monitoring system, and a caller line identification display. The voice announced caller ID allows utmost convenience, and the directory allowing up to 200 entries will certainly facilitate your digital life.
SONY ERICSSON
Saudi Arabia’s mobile phone market is becoming highly competitive with the introduction of new models equipped with the latest technologies. In a latest case, Sony Ericsson on Tuesday expanded its growing line-up of Walkman phones, new lifestyle of imaging communication with first “cyber-shot” phones, three new Bluetooth headsets and Bluetooth car speakerphone. It is also collaborating with Google on integration of Blogger and Google search into handsets. “Sony Ericsson has a market share of seven percent in the Middle East and Africa region,” its Marketing Communications Manager Elie Otaki told a press conference here. “Our introduction of the wide range of products indicates our investment in our research and development,” he added. “We’ve expanded our growing line-up of Walkman phones with the W300, a quad band EDGE clamshell which aims to bring the mobile phone Walkman experience to an even greater market,” he said.
MELLON FINANCIAL
Mellon Financial Corporation, for the fifth straight year, has outperformed its peer group of the world’s largest global custodians in the annual R&M global custody survey. The Mellon Group worldwide custody providers - Mellon Global Securities Services, ABN Amro Mellon Global Securities Services, and CIBC Mellon Global Securities Services - ranked fifth overall in this year’s survey of clients and fund managers. “Earning top scores in respected client surveys such as R&M clearly shows that our strategy is working,” said James Palermo, Mellon vice chairman and president of Mellon Global Securities Services. “Across all of our custodian businesses, we see the same commitment to clients and are exceeding their expectations by delivering outstanding client service and high quality solutions.”
KPMG
The Sharjah Economic Development Department has appointed KPMG, an international consultancy firm as advisers, as part of their overall electronic transformation project. Considered as one of the worlds leading management, legal and financial consultancy firms, KPMG’s appointment reflects the Economic Department’s commitment to deliver the best technological solutions available to its clients. Tariq ibn Faisal Al-Qassimi, chairman of the Sharjah Economic Development Department, said: “Studies and research show that technological development is one of the primary aspects investors consider when assessing where to spend their money.”
UPS
In order to better serve customers in the Middle East, UPS has created the company’s first-ever website in Arabic. The new site, www.ups-arabic.com, enables customers in key markets such as the UAE and Saudi Arabia to browse through UPS’s extensive service offering, track deliveries, and locate their nearest drop-off locations online. “The Internet has become a critical business tool in the Arabic-speaking world, and just as UPS aims to have the most convenient drop-off locations while providing outstanding services to our customers in the Middle East, we also want to enable 24 hour access to UPS information in a choice of languages,” said John Tansey, General Manager for UPS UAE L.L.C.
