Rumours of another cyclone not yet based on facts; Abu Dhabi royal family confirm they got 99%+ Blue City bonds

Bit of a quiet week.

First, the Abu Dhabi Royal family confirmed this week that Essdar Capital, one of their many investment arms, were successful in acquiring more than 99% of the outstanding A class secured Blue City 1 bonds at about 63 cents in the dollar - quite a premium for a seriously distressed sale, but I guess they can afford the risk. (thanks for all the emails too)

Dubai company gains control of Blue City
Bradley Hope, The National

Last Updated: June 09. 2010 9:06PM UAE / June 9. 2010 5:06PM GMT

Essdar Capital, an investment company based in Dubai, said yesterday it had obtained almost all of the senior debt of the struggling Blue City property development in Oman and would take control of the project.

“What it gives us is significant control over decision making on the project,” said Suketu Sanghvi, the senior managing director of structuring and investments at Essdar. “If any restructuring needs to be done, the project needs to be revived or business plans need to be changed, we can manage that as the owner of the Class A bonds.”

...

Essdar is majority-owned by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed and Sheikh Hazza bin Zayed, members of Abu Dhabi’s Royal Family.

Mr Sanghvi said the project was not yet out of difficulties. The first move Essdar would make would be to meet with management about the project’s future, aiming to focus on its hotel and tourism components earlier than planned in the original business strategy.

Things may take a few months to sort out, with the legal complications, and the battle between Cyclone owners HH Haitham and Anees Zedjali and AAJH still going through the courts. (although AAJH did get an injunction from the high court in their favour a couppe of weeks ago, albeit with no legal implications either way for eventual judgement). Watch this space.


Meanwhile, the sky is not falling
Rumours and panicked emails are doing the rounds, alleging another cyclone is coming to Oman. This rumour is just not true, and is a regular Gonu anniversary phenomena, especially given the recent cyclone Phet.

What is true is that some computer models indicated a possibility for the elevated sea temperatures to generate a tropical cyclonic (this just means a low pressure spinning thing) storm of the west coast on India, but so far that hasn't happened.

Who knows? I'll keep an eye on it. The rains and hail in the Oman Mountains these past few days are not related in any way to another secret cyclone, BTW. The latest sat image from the professionals at the JTWC is reassuring.