Dubai state-owned companies get over US$8 billion from Citigroup
15/12/2008 16:54
Dubai state-owned companies has gotten more than US$8 billion of financing
from US banking giant Citigroup in recent months, the website of Arabian
Business quoted the bank as saying today.
"This is in line with our
commitment to the UAE market in general, and reflects our positive outlook on
Dubai in particular, " Citi's Chairman Sir Win Bischoff said in a
statement.
In November Citi said it has a big exposure to Dubai.
He said
Citi continue to place the Gulf region among its globally most significant
markets. "We certainly see opportunities across all of the UAE's financial
sectors."
Bischoff said in the last two years, Citi participated in most
major financing transactions across the region including the United Arab
Emirates (UAE).
Local newspaper Gulf News reported today that officials
familiar with the deals said the amount is an aggregate of about half a dozen
deals Citigroup did with Dubai's public sector entities during the past few
months.
The announcement of Citigroup's deals with Dubai is the first of its
kind since the financial crisis emanating from Wall Street swept the whole world
in September.
The credit rating company Moody's said in Mid-October in a
report that the combined debts owed by companies controlled by Dubai government
were at least US$47 billion, which was slightly more than the emirate's GDP in
2006. The report raised concerns over Dubai's ability to repay its debts and
sustain its growth under the current unfavorable credit
environment.
Citigroup lost 60 percent of its market value in mid-November as
investors worried the risky debt on its balance sheet will turn into
losses.
On Nov. 23, the US government agreed to rescue Citigroup by
protecting US$306 billion of loans and securities on Citigroup Inc.'s books
against losses and injecting US$20 billion into the bank from the Treasury's
US$700-billion Troubled Asset Relief Program.
Xinhua
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