Saturday, June 12, 2010

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.


12 comments:

  1. JD. You are, as ever, on the ball about the lack on new cyclones on the horizon. The Climate Prediction Center, National Weather Service says:

    Numerical weather forecast guidance and above-average sea surface temperatures support POTENTIAL (my CAPS) development in this region most likely late in the period [end of the week]. Confidence: Moderate.

    Readers can check out:

    http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/precip/CWlink/ghazards/ghazard.pdf

    Fiver

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  2. Dragon, sorry I called you JD in my previous comment. He is, of course, that other one. Fiver

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  3. Have an enjoyable time in Spain, fella.

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  4. why dont you write something on the landlord-tenant problems in Muscat? Ive been a victim and now I know how bad some landlords can be. Despite the Royal Decree in 2008 in favour of tenants, landlords are giving tough time to tenants.

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  5. Anonymous - walk out; there are vast numbers of vacant flats / houses now.

    If on the other hand you want to rent a property at less than the cost to the landlord of financing it , then you will have a hard time finding any landlord who will rent , just as he would find it hard in getting a bank to lend under those circumstances.

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  6. Bit of a quiet week...Abu Dhabi Royal family takes over Blue City!! A rather muted posting from UD! You must have more to say about this after all you wrote in the past...and no news from the Bahraini commentators and their apologists? A strange silence indeed...yes lets talk about those nasty landlords!

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  7. Has anyone spotted Anees Issa Al Zadjali lately? Perhaps the greatest con man in Oman's history is MIA?

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  8. Oh, and how a propos that Anees should name his company Cyclone -- an entity that wreaks havoc on the shores of Oman, destroys Omani lives and puts Oman on the radar of the international media for negative reasons! Anees Issa Al Zadjali, a true embarassment to the great Sultanate of Oman and the most hsopitable Omani people!

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  9. I am not a nasty landlord and if you are looking for a beautiful apartment on Muscat Hills, then look no further than Oman Forum.

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  10. Dragon in hibernation! UD on vacation? I hope all is well with him and he is enjoying vacation!

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  11. is there a way to reach you via email? - color

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If you wish to post anonymously, please pick a nickname by selecting the Name/URL option, or at least sign off your comment with one! I will delete comments I find objectionable or needlessly inflammatory. Sorry for the word verification.... OMG the spam has gotten BAD these past 12 months... trying to avoid making one log in...