The Pakistan market up 800%, Crescent Oil, Dana Gas, BMA, Abraaj, Jafar, Iraq, the net grows wider and a side note about iron ore
A number of times, I've referred to "Sell, Sell, Sell in Pakistan," the title of a previous article from June 10, 2005 in the Asia Times regarding Pakistan's state selloff since the post-9/11 imbroglio.
I've linked to this article in previous blogs, however, I'll do it once again, here:
A recent article in the WSJ, May 12, 2006, entitled, "Pakistan's Stock Surge Is Luring Foreign Funds," has the following statistics:
"Not many stock markets that are up 800% in recent years can be considered a good value. Some adventuresome investors claim Pakistan, which has kept pace with many of the world's hottest destinations for foreign capital, could be one...In the past 12 months, the benchmark Karachi Stock Exchange 100 index has surged 55%. With its huge gains since 2002, the index has outperformed better-known emerging markets Brazil, Russia, India and China....Alot of the fresh foreign capital is flowing through Pakistan-dedicated investment funds, including the first open-ended US-dollar dominated offshore equity fund, BMA Pakistan Opportunities Fund. Established in October, it has clocked a 23% return since inception, buying the prime beneficiaries of the country's strong economy: banks, cement and energy stocks...."
Behind these sell-offs, privatizations, have been some very intense labor struggles, previously reported everywhere but here. And, of course, the Baluchistan situation has also been in the news regarding the proposed gas pipeline. And, American unions "advised" to invest in Pakistan.
Now, back to the firm mentioned in the article, BMA Pak Oppty Fund.
It gets even better. BMA Pak Oppty Fund is a division of Abraaj Capital.
Some of the following links regarding Abraaj Capital and BMA, for BEGINNERS/BACKGROUND:
and
Long before the Iraq war began, I was posting/forwarding info on the establishment of these investment firms, of which Abraaj is but one of more than a few prominent names, generally, with interlocking directors.
Follow another one called "Shuaa," for example, which is also represented on the Board of Abraaj.
For more important info on Abraaj Capital, however, go to their corporate website and look around it:
After looking around Abraaj's website, in case you happened to miss it, if you note on the Board of Directors of Abraaj Capital is none other than UAE's CEO and sole owner, Hamid Jafar of CRESCENT OIL!
See my numerous previous blogs on this issue, Crescent, Dana Gas, Iran, etc!
If anyone reading this hasn't been following the Crescent, Dana Gas, etc., story, go to my blog from March 7, 2006 and work backwards.
And, while we're at it, on the Abraaj Board is ex-intelligence chief Saudi Prince Turki of previous Bin Laden, 9/11, TAP pipeline fame!
Abraaj's entire Board of Directors is worthy of study.
ALSO, it turns out, Hamid Jafar, sole CEO and owner of UAE's Crescent Oil, on the Board of Abraaj, is of Iraqi descent, AND, it seems, brother of British educated Iraqi physicist Jafar Dhia Jafar, supposedly involved wtih Iraq's "nuclear" project, who subsequently "fled" Iraq prior to the invasion.
Hamid Jafar of Crescent Oil is on the Board of the American University at Sharjah, UAE, AND, as well, he's part of an organization about which I knew/know nothing called the "World President's Organization:"
For more detailed bio on the CEO of Abraaj, Masood Naqvi, try the following link:
If this link does not work, simply do a search on his name, Masood Naqvi and you'll come up with this link plus more than you care to read.
Another firm in which Naqvi's involved is the Cupola Group.
And, lastly, it seems, there is a PRIVATE oil company operating in Iraq called Dome Group, or, Dome International, or, Dome Oil, which, it seems, is actually a UAE company.
The CEO of UAE's Dome Oil/Group is, I believe, someone named Amin JAFAR.
And, it turns out, Dome Oil/Group International was awarded a contract in southern Iraq:
Getting specific details other than the above regarding the Dome Group/Dome Oil/Dome International and Jafar has been very elusive.
The financial web certainly grows wider and more internecine.
(For more generalized background, go to the ABANA website, Arab Bankers Assoc of North America, www.arabbankers.org).
A side note.
Since steel production is very much in the news, these days, regarding takeovers between Mittal, Areclor and now the Russian firm, I think it important to keep in mind the following very significant statistic mentioned in passing in a brief article in the WSJ discussing the supply of iron-ore in the production of steel, the title of the article, May 19, 2006, "China's Steelmakers Hold Out As Suppliers Set Pricing Deals." According to one paragraph in this article, as follows:
"....Just three companies--[Anglo-Australian] Rio Tinto, CVRD [Brazil's Companhia Vale do Rio Doce, SA], and Australia-based BHP Billiton Ltd--control roughly 75% of the world's exports of iron ore, which unlike most other commodities is priced according to annual contracts."
The impact of those few sentences is breathtaking.
End reproduced post above.
LAST, from THIS, AS YET, UNBLOCKED blog, another reminder:
