BUSINESS
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Car of the Year 2009:
Hatem El Hage, CEO of Media Box KUWAIT: Media box and RPM magazine have revealed the Best Car of the Year for 2009 by announcing the results of the survey conducted by RPM magazine. Guests arrived at the venue on March 30 to find out the Car of the Year in which a number of esteemed dignitaries in Kuwait were present headed by their the Ambassadors of the United States, Japan, Korea, in addition to the British commercial attachE, the German commercial attachE and the Italian commercial attachE have participated along with a number of valued guests and Kuwaiti car dealers. Hatem Al-Hage, CEO of Media box inaugurated the ceremony by giving a speech welcoming the guests and giving a brief on the techniques used to conduct the survey to find out the readers opinion on the Best Car of the Year for 2009 in terms of performance and design. Following the CEO’s speech, the show started to reveal the winners based on the surveys. The show displayed the cars selected to participate in each category and then running a video on the 3 finalists qualified for the final stage. For each category one of the guests was chosen to announce the winning car and present the award to the car dealer representative in Kuwait. The participating cars were classified into 22 categories with three cars from each category reaching the finalists, there were 66 candidates nominated for the Best Car of the Year for 2009. The final results were as follows: First Category: Hatchback Cars and the first place winner is VOLKSWAGEN GOLF, received 23.5 percent of votes. Second Category: Small Size Cars and the first place winner is TOYOTA COROLLA, received 36.5 percent of votes. Third Category: Mid Size Cars and the first
place winner is TOYOTA CAMRY, received 30.9 percent of votes. Fourth Category: Big Size Cars and the first place winner is DODGE CHARGER, received of 26 percent of votes. Fifth Category: Premium Small Size Cars and the first place winner is BMW 3 SERIES, received 21.6 percent of votes. Sixth Category: Premium Mid Size cars and the first place winner is BMW FIVE SERIES, received 20.5 percent of votes.
Osama Gholmieh gives the award to Moubarak Al-Sayer for the Dealership of the Year (Mohammad Nasser Al-Sayer & Sons Co).
Astrid De La Rios gives the award to Daren Abel for the Premium Roadster Cars (Porsche Boxter).
Dubai Bank appoints new CEO
Rothschild Mideast exec to join Barclays DUBAI: Barclays Capital has poached the cohead of Rothschild’s investment banking division in the Middle East and North Africa to head the UK bank’s regional financial institutions coverage, sources said yesterday. Michael Helou, 37, set up Rothschild’s Dubai office in 2006. At Barclays he will be driving the so-called FIG coverage, which includes mergers and acquisitions advice, as well as capital markets coverage for financial institutions. Helou is expected to start in his new role in the middle of May, one source close to the matter
Seventh Category: Premium Big Size Cars and the first place winner is MERCEDES BENZ S CLASS, received 20.1 percent of votes. Eighth Category: Compact Size MAV and the first place winner is FORD EDGE, received 16.5 percent of votes Ninth Category: Mid Size MAV and the first place winner is TOYOTA PRADO, received 28.5 percent of votes. Tenth Category: Big Size MAV and the first place winner is TOYOTA LANDCRUISER, received 39.4 percent of votes. Eleventh Category: Large Size MAV and the first place winner is GMC YUKON XL, received 28.9 percent of votes Twelfth Category: Premium Compact Size MAV and the first place winner is INFINITY EX, received 18.5 percent votes. Thirteenth Category: Premium Mid Size MAV and the first place winner is PORSHE CAYENNE, received 20.2 percent votes Fourteenth Category: Premium Big Size MAV and the first place winner is CADILLAC ESCALADE, received 26.3 percent votes Fifteenth Category: Roadsters and the first place winner is PORSHE BOXTER, received 30.5 percent of votes. Sixteenth Category: Premium Coupes and the first place winner is BMW 6 SERIES, received 39 percent of votes. Seventeenth Category: Super Sports Cars and the first place winner is LAMBORGHINI GALLARDO, received 29.3 percent of votes. Eighteenth Category: Luxury Cars and the first place winner is ROLLS ROYCE PHANTOM, received 39 percent of votes. Nineteenth Category: Muscle Cars and the first place winner is CHEVROLET CAMARO, received 39.2 percent of votes. Twentieth Category: Mid Size Pick Ups and
Adel Boresly (Kuwait Airways) gives the award to Abdullah Ali for the Hatchback Cars (Volkswagen Golf).
the first place winner is TOYOTA HILUX, received 30.5 percent of votes. Twenty first Category: Large Size Pick Ups and the first place winner is CADILLAC ESCALADE EXT, received 27.1 percent of votes. Twenty second Category: Minivans and the first place winner is TOYOTA PREVIA, received 38 percent of votes. Following the awarding of the winning cars from each category, the moment came to reveal the discovery of the year award which went to PORCHE PANAMERA which is expected to achieve strong success in the Kuwaiti market. Also announcing the best show room in Kuwait which was awarded to
Media box and RPM announce the best of the auto lot INFINITY show room - Al-Babtain and another award was given to the most innovative car dealer in Kuwait VOLKSWAGEN, Behbahani Motors. Whereas the Dream Car award was awarded to BMW, the car dealer of the year was awarded to Mohammad Naser Al-Sayer & Sons. The ceremony was concluded by announcing the Best Car of the Year, where three finalist cars competed for the award: Toyota COROLLA (40.2 percent), Toyota PRADO (39.9 percent) and Toyota CAMRY (37.1 percent). The Best Car of the Year Award was given to Toyota COROLLA.
Dakheel Al-Dakheel gives the award to Abbass Ashmar for the Premium Small Size Cars (BMW 3 Series).
German Commercial Attache gives the award to Sanjay Kaul for the Premium Large Size Cars (Mercedes S-Class).
Japanese Ambassador gives the award to Tony Trantic for the Khaled Al-Faris gives the award to Ghazi Al-Babtain for the Large Size MAV (GMC Yukon XL). Premium Compact MAV (Infiniti EX).
said. Following its purchase of the US business of Lehman Brothers, Barclays has completed a number of high profile hires in an effort to become a leading full-service investment bank. In September 2009, Barcap named Rothschild veteran Stefano Marsaglia as chairman of the bank’s FIG division. During his 10-year career at Rothschild, Helou advised on the still-to-be completed merger between troubled Islamic mortgage companies Tamweel and Amlak, as well as the sale of Dubai Holding’s stake in Malaysia’s Bank Islam.
HSBC Saudi unit head likely to step down DUBAI: The head of SABB bank, HSBC’s Saudi affiliate, is likely set to step down from his current role after a little over a year in the job, sources familiar with the situation said yesterday. Richard Groves was appointed Chief Executive Officer in March 2009. “He’s likely to leave, the bank is working on finding a replacement,” said one banker who wished not to be named. Two other bankers close to SABB said Groves would step down as soon as a replacement is found. HSBC, which owns 40 percent of SABB, declined to comment. A spokesman for SABB in Riyadh also declined to comment. The Riyadh-based bank posted a 30 percent drop in 2009 earnings, mainly due to a surge in bad debt.
Iran’s April gasoline imports at 128,000 bpd DUBAI: Iran’s April gasoline imports were expected to be steady to the previous month, showing no signs of slowing down even as top independant traders and international oil firms pledged to stop sales to the Islamic Republic. Iran was expected to purchase up to 128,000 barrels per day (bpd) of gasoline from the spot market in April, or about 15 cargoes, traders said yesterday. “This is more or less what they will do this month, so far they are still finding ready sellers on
Winners take it all
Khaled and Raghda Al-Faris with the American Ambassador.
in the news DUBAI: Dubai Bank has appointed Giel-Jan Van der Tol as chief executive officer, the Islamic lender said in a statement yesterday, after previous CEO left to take on a new role at National Bank of Oman. Van der Tol joins the Dubai-based lender from Tier One Capital in the Netherlands, prior to which he was with Dutch bank ABN AMRO for over 20 years. He has also held the role of CEO at Saudi Hollandi Bank. Dubai Bank is fully owned by by Dubai Banking Group, a subsidiary of Dubai Holding, held by the emirate’s ruler. In 2007 it was converted into a fully-fledged Islamic bank. Former chief executive Salam Al-Shaksy joined National Bank of Oman in January.
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the market,” a Middle East based trader said. Europe’s largest oil company, Royal Dutch Shell, and top trading firms Glencore and Vitol have halted gasoline sales to Iran. The move comes as US politicians work on legislation to slap sanctions on suppliers of fuel to Iran to increase pressure on the Islamic Republic to halt uranium enrichment. Western powers accuse Tehran of using its atomic program to develop weapons, while Iran insists it needs nuclear electricity. —Reuters
Jordan ex-minister, mogul go on trial Government says case part of anti-graft crackdown AMMAN: A former finance minister and a business mogul went on trial yesterday in a corruption scandal that has rocked Jordan’s political establishment. A military prosecutor has accused Adel Qudah, a former finance minister, Mohammed Rawashdeh, a senior economic adviser to the prime minister, and Ahmad Rifai, former head of the country’s sole refiner, of receiving bribes and exploiting a public position for personal gain. Khaled Shaheen, ranked as one of the country’s wealthiest businessmen, was accused of “offering bribes and encouraging public officials to abuse their posts.” Qudah, a member of Jordan’s political old guard, is the first senior government official to answer corruption charges in a country where detention of top figures is rare. Prime Minister Samir Rifai pledged to fight corruption when he assumed office last December. Critics accused his predecessor of failing to crack down hard enough on corruption, which they blamed for scaring away investors. Rifai’s appointment by the monarch heralded a wider shakeup to ward off popular discontent over economic contraction after years of growth and allegations of rampant official corruption. Until the latest arrests, moves to tackle graft in the administration and state-controlled companies had been limited to minor investigations and arrests. Prosecutors say Qudah
gained personally during his tenure as the governmentappointed chairman of Jordan Petroleum Refinery when he allegedly sought to give a front company Shaheen owned an exclusivity deal to undertake a billion dollar project to expand the country’s sole refinery. No money was involved in the deal that never went through after investors withdrew last year after the global downturn. The media were barred at the trial’s first session in which the four defendants denied the charges read to them by military prosecutors, judicial sources told Reuters. Lawyers contested the court’s legality and said it violated the principle of separation of powers as it was not independent from government. “This is an unjust trial, which is character assassination and a settling of scores among top business interests,” said Ahmad Najdawi, a lawyer defending Qudah. Shaheen had been for over a decade the government’s contractor of choice for big security projects. Companies associated with Luxembourg-registered Shaheen Business and Investment Group (SBIG) undertook the construction of a US-funded police academy that has trained Iraqi and Palestinian police. Shaheen’s family concern were also in partnership with government agencies to sell Iraqi oil in the months preceding the fall of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in 2003. — Reuters