Posted on 11/21/2007 10:19:48 PM PST by america4vr
The Dubai government, whose purchase of six American ports sparked a political furor, is poised to acquire substantial stakes in Citigroup and other New York-based banks mired in subprime mortgage debt.
Omar bin Sulaiman, the governor of the Dubai government's investment arm, DIFC Investments, is currently on a spending spree, spurred by the bargains that have resulted from the low value of the dollar and the sinking of the stock markets caused by the subprime mortgage crisis. Last year, Dubai caused a political storm in America when its Dubai Ports World company acquired six major American ports as part of its purchase of the British company P&O. Opposition to ownership by an Arab country of such sensitive properties at a time when America is waging a war against Islamist terrorists obliged Dubai to sell the port management companies to the American insurance company AIG amid anxieties about port security.
Dubai, a tiny country in the Persian Gulf with a matching small population, which is part of the United Arab Emirates, is cash-rich because of its vast natural reserves of oil.
Under its ruler, Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, Dubai has aggressively begun to diversify its investments into tourism, construction, and finance and has concentrated upon acquiring blue-chip companies around the world. The sheik's aim is to make Dubai home to two of the world's 10 largest financial institutions within the next eight years.
The turmoil in the markets and the subprime mortgage mess has made large American financial institutions and banks vulnerable.
"There are good assets in the U.S., good opportunities for acquisitions to be identified," Mr. bin Sulaiman told reporters at the World Financial Centers Summit conference in Dubai. He said he was hoping to buy into American oil and gas interests, as well as telecommunications companies and
(Excerpt) Read more at nysun.com ...
Freaky times we live in. Investment bankers and hedge fund managers call the shots now...
what 6 ports?
I really have to post that old '73 article about how the Arabs should just buy Times Square.
Why? from what I know I do not see Dubai nor Qatar as tools of Muslim fanaticism, and we need to be developing new business partners whenever/wherever we can in our interest, especially nowdays.
Our banker who handles our business loans told us 3 years ago the sh*t was going to hit the fan re:subprime loans and it was common knowledge amongst the banking community. I have no sympathy for these clowns...
You know how Dubai is exploding
with huge capitalistic growth, poc ..
Rush mentioned how fascinating
it is yesterday. They are definitely
on a roll, and I can’t imagine they’d
go for anything like Achmanutjob or
terrorists that would dare put their
billions of investments at risk.
Happy Thanksgiving. Any turkeys there ..
the gobble gobble kind ? ;)
Thanks for the information. Dubai won't remain a secret any longer. They will be the Swiss of the Middle East.
Plenty of Butterball turkeys (frozen) in the local markets; I plan to cook a 12-pounder up and enjoy the satisfaction of over-eating. Unfortunately, I'll miss the enhancement only provided by a deep red wine.
PoC
Foreigners have a near perfect history of buying our stuff on the expensive, selling it back on the cheap. And Americans have a near perfect history on buying foreign assets on the expensive, later selling on the cheap.
Come on in Dubai, the water is lovely...
Oh why bother, just post the article next year when that becomes a reality. LOL
The worst potential aspect is the banking CEOs plotted this entire sub-prime real estate loan problem in order to get filthy rich, which they did, but now the thing is out of control effecting the domestic & global economy, the banker must not be allowed to worm their way out through an expected tax payer bail out, as has already transpired in the UK with Northern Rock.
One good item, at least your own banker actually told you the forecasted truth well in advance.
Have you heard of “the Trade Deficit”? It’s when we buy more from foreigners than they buy from us. That leaves foreigners with lots of extra American dollars on their hands. And like anyone with lots of extra cash on hand, they want to put it to work by investing it. But the only way they CAN invest those American dollars is by buying American assets, like like American movie studios, ports and banks.
Eventually China will own more US businesses than we do if we don’t take care of our trade deficit, both past and present.
THAT’s an issue you should be concerned about.
Have you ever seen a thread on that topic? Me neither.
“The Founding Fathers are spinning in their graves.
Nah. Jefferson tries to be lie real still so as not to attract notice. He’s worried one day people are going to realize he had no Constitutional authority to purchase Louisiana from the French. Irony is no one cares about that. All people want to talk about these days is rape and interracial sex. Go figure.
Only 10% of Dubai's revenue comes from oil.
I wish I had a dollar for every time a FReeper has said they have no sympathy for someone or some group of people.
Not true. Duncan Hunter has been raging about this dynamic for 12 months, in every public appearance he makes. Duncans focus is on China, and their takeover of banking institutions with profits made on the backs of American consumers and off shore migrant US companies through their MFN status. He wants to end it, and he wants to drill in ANWAR.
Its just that you have not heard Duncan. Start listening to what he is saying. He saw this coming years ago, and it is one of the reasons he is running for the presidential nomination of the Republican party.
No other candidate has a handle on this.
They are all to busy kissing Arab and Chinese feet.
Add to that Bank Advisories, Bank Bulletins, and Bank Circulars to adhere to and the Feds can tie you up so tight you can't breath.
I am thirty-five years in the business and would not get in to it as an owner today on a bet.
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