Saudi Aramco and Indian consortium “RRPCL” sign MoU to develop Ratnagiri mega refinery and petrochemicals complex on India’s west coast
President & CEO Amin H. Nasser: “Investing in India is a key part of Saudi Aramco’s global downstream strategy, and another milestone in our growing relationship with India.”
Saudi Aramco signed today a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with “Ratnagiri Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd.” (RRPCL), a consortium of Indian oil companies which includes The Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. (IOCl), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (BPCL), and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (HPCL), to jointly develop and build an integrated mega refinery and petrochemicals complex at Ratnagiri, in the state of Maharashtra. Saudi Aramco may also seek to include a strategic partner to co-invest in the mega refinery.
The strategic partnership brings together crude supply, resources, technologies, experience, and expertise of these multiple oil companies with an established commercial presence around the world.
A pre-feasibility study for the refinery has been completed and the parties are now finalizing the project’s overall configuration. Following the signing of the MOU, the parties will extend their collaboration to discuss the formation of a joint venture that would provide for joint ownership, control, and management of the project.
The refinery will be capable of processing 1.2 million barrels of crude oil per day. It will produce a range of refined petroleum products, including gasoline and diesel, meeting BS-VI fuel efficiency norms. The refinery will also provide feedstock for the integrated petrochemical complex, which will be capable of producing approximately 18 million tons per annum of petrochemical production.
In addition to the refinery, cracker and downstream petrochemical facilities, the project will include associated facilities such as a logistics, crude oil and product storage terminals, raw water supply, as well as centralized and shared utilities.
Ratnagiri Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd. (RRPCL) will rank among the largest world refining and petrochemicals projects and will be designed to meet India’s fast-growing fuels and petrochemicals demand. The project cost is estimated at around $44 billion.
“Investing in India is a key part of our company’s global downstream strategy, and another milestone in our growing relationship with India,” said Saudi Aramco President and CEO Amin H. Nasser, who also noted the opening in 2017 of Aramco Asia’s New Delhi office with a mandate to expand Saudi Aramco’s international portfolio in this key economic growth region.
“The signing marks a significant development in India’s oil and gas sector, enabling a strategic joint venture and investment partnership that will serve India’s fast-growing demand for transportation fuels and chemical products. Participating in this mega project will allow Saudi Aramco to go beyond our crude oil supplier role to a fully integrated position that may help usher in other areas of collaboration, such as refining, marketing, and petrochemicals for India’s future energy demands,” said Nasser.
T-Mobile to Offer iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus (PRODUCT)RED Special Edition
T-Mobile will offer iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus (PRODUCT)RED Special Edition, the new generation of iPhone in a stunning red finish. Customers will be able to pre-order starting Wednesday at www.t-mobile.com, with the devices launching at T-Mobile stores Friday, April 13.
For more information on iPhone at T-Mobile, visit www.t-mobile.com/apple.
Media Contacts
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Sprint Unveils Six 5G-Ready Cities; Significant Milestone Toward Launching First 5G Mobile Network in the U.S.
Starting in April, Sprint (NYSE: S) customers in select U.S. markets will experience the future of wireless as the company prepares to deliver the nation’s first 5G mobile network in the first half of 2019.
Customers in Chicago, Dallas and Los Angeles will begin experiencing 5G-like capabilities, including significant increases in data speed and capacity, as Sprint rolls out advanced network technology called Massive MIMO. Sprint will aggressively expand to additional markets including Atlanta, Houston and Washington, D.C. later this year. In 2018 and 2019 Sprint expects to deploy thousands of Massive MIMO radios, significantly increasing network capacity for millions of customers across the country.
Massive MIMO is a critical bridge to Sprint’s 5G network. 5G technology promises to connect people, places and billions of things with blazing fast speed, ultra-reliable, low-latency wireless service. This breakthrough technology will enable new levels of innovation and progress including cloud robotics, telemedicine, connected cars and drones, augmented and virtual reality and more.
“The race to 5G is heating up, and let me be clear, today’s announcement is a huge step toward Sprint being first to offer a 5G mobile network,” said Marcelo Claure, Sprint CEO. “Our deep spectrum position gives us an incredible advantage no other carrier has in the U.S. We’re making significant investments using state-of-the-art technology, and working with leading chip and handset partners to deliver an incredible Next-Gen Network for our customers.”
The Power of Massive MIMO on the Sprint Network
Sprint’s first 5G-ready Massive MIMO cell sites are capable of delivering up to 10 times the capacity of current LTE systems, significantly increasing data speeds for more customers in high-traffic locations. With Massive MIMO at the foundation of Sprint’s Gigabit LTE and 5G service, Sprint can keep meeting its customers’ demand for unlimited data and high-bandwidth applications. Customers will have a great experience using 6K and 8K TV, and applications such as HD Virtual Reality.
“Massive MIMO is a game-changer for TDD-LTE networks that’s being used by leading operators around the world to deploy Gigabit LTE and 5G,” said Dr. John Saw, Sprint Chief Technology Officer. “For more than a year we’ve been testing this new technology, and in a few short weeks we’ll be bringing the power of Massive MIMO to Sprint customers beginning with some of the largest markets in the country.”
All Sprint customers using a 2.5 GHz (band 41) device will benefit from the increased capacity and speed provided by Massive MIMO. In addition, Sprint is working with Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated, and device manufacturers to launch 5G mobile devices in the first half of 2019. The recently announced Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ X50 5G modem supports 5G NR for Sprint’s 2.5 GHz (n41) spectrum band.
Sprint will deploy 64T64R (64 transmit, 64 receive) Massive MIMO radios using 128 antennas working with technology leaders Ericsson, Nokia, and Samsung Electronics. The Massive MIMO radios from all three suppliers are software-upgradable to 5G without additional tower climbs. The Massive MIMO radios support split-mode service, enabling Sprint to offer both 4G LTE and 5G on the same radio.
With 204 MHz of spectrum and more than 160 MHz of 2.5 GHz spectrum in the top 100 markets, Sprint is uniquely positioned with enough capacity to deliver a nationwide 5G mobile network using licensed spectrum. Because of Sprint’s large spectrum holdings it is also one of the only operators in the world with enough capacity to operate LTE and 5G simultaneously over 100-200 MHz on the same Massive MIMO radios.
Nishant Batra, Head of Product Area Network Infrastructure at Ericsson, said: “Our 5G-ready Massive MIMO technology helps ensure a smooth network evolution for Sprint with its easy-to-adopt and install features. Sprint can get the most out of its vast 2.5 GHz spectrum holdings, boost the capacity of its LTE network, and deliver top-quality and high-speed data services to its customers.”
Marc Rouanne, President of Mobile Networks, Nokia, said: “With Nokia’s 5G-ready massive MIMO radios, Sprint will build high capacity for its customers, especially in densely populated locations such as city centers and high-rise buildings. This powerful technology will be easy for Sprint to deploy on its 2.5 GHz spectrum, boosting data traffic, and we are looking forward to helping Sprint develop new levels of innovation in cloud robotics, augmented reality and more.”
“After testing massive MIMO solutions in a real world situation with Sprint last year, and seeing impressive capacity gains using the same amount of spectrum, we are excited to reach this new milestone with the deployment of Samsung 5G ready MIMO solutions on Sprint’s network,” said Mark Louison, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Networks Division at Samsung Electronics America. “As this technology advances to even greater levels of speed and capacity, we look forward to enabling Sprint customers to experience the full benefits of network innovation.”
Massive MIMO is a key part of Sprint’s Next-Gen Network strategy. Sprint is significantly increasing its investment to dramatically improve coverage, reliability, and speed across its nationwide network and launch the first 5G mobile network in the U.S in the first half of 2019. The Next-Gen Network build includes upgrading cell sites to triband service using 800 MHz, 1.9 GHz, and 2.5 GHz, adding thousands of new cell sites to expand coverage, and densifying the network with more small cells to increase capacity and speed.
About Sprint:
Sprint (NYSE: S) is a communications services company that creates more and better ways to connect its customers to the things they care about most. Sprint served 54.6 million connections as of December 31, 2017 and is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying innovative technologies, including the first wireless 4G service from a national carrier in the United States; leading no-contract brands including Virgin Mobile USA, Boost Mobile, and Assurance Wireless; instant national and international push-to-talk capabilities; and a global Tier 1 Internet backbone. You can learn more and visit Sprint at www.sprint.com or www.facebook.com/sprint and www.twitter.com/sprint.
Firms turn ‘home’ as protectionism bites
Businesses are concerned about the cost of rising protectionism, yet are optimistic about their international business prospects, according to a new report from HSBC, ‘Navigator: Now, next and how for business.’
Of the 6,000 firms surveyed globally, three in five (61%) think governments are becoming more protective of their domestic economies. This sentiment is strongest among companies in MENA (70%), and Asia‐Pacific (68%). In the USA, 61% believe protectionism is on the rise, while in Europe, half (50%) are seeing a rise in protectionist tendencies.
The majority of firms are looking to regional partners to develop trade opportunities, with almost three quarters (74%) of overseas trade in Europe and Asia‐Pacific being conducted within their ‘home’ region. This trend is set to continue with regional ties being prioritised in firms’ expansion plans for the next three to five years. Focusing on the impact of government policies, those designed to strengthen regional ties such as China’s ‘Belt and Road Initiative’ (40%) and ASEAN’s 2025 strategy (37%) were cited most frequently as having a positive impact on international business.
Firms are focused on growth, with more than three in four (77%) businesses optimistic about their international business prospects, and expect the volume of trade to increase over the next 12 months. Reasons behind this confidence include an increase in demand for their products from consumers and businesses (33%), favourable economic conditions (31%) and the greater use of technology (22%) in driving growth.
Noel Quinn, Chief Executive, Global Commercial Banking, HSBC, said: “Overall, companies are showing remarkable agility in navigating the changing trade policy landscape. They are getting on with adapting business plans, and relationships, to participate in shifting supply chains. Strategies include increasing regional trade, establishing joint ventures or local subsidiaries in more markets, and capitalising on trends in consumer demands and digital technologies.”
“An increase in protectionist sentiment hasn’t hampered the optimism of firms globally, but is causing concern about the cost of doing cross-border trade and international business.”
“By taking time to understand the emerging drivers and impediments to trade, business leaders can identify risks and opportunities, and make informed decisions for future growth.”
Economic analysis supports the strength of business confidence, pointing to a 7% growth for trade values in 2018 (goods and services combined). Forecasts by Oxford Economics on behalf of HSBC show the economic indicators underpinning this estimate include an upturn in both investment and consumer demand, a weaker US dollar and recovery in the Eurozone.
Media enquiries to:
Auriane Potel
+44 20 7991 0081
auriane.potel@hsbc.com
Paul Smith
+44 20 7991 4867
EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED
More than just a pretty face, this all-new Lexus vehicle aims to radically transform the concept of comfort for luxury consumers all over the world. Witness its global debut in Beijing on April 25, 2018.
#ExperienceAmazing
Apollo Announces Closing of $300 Million in Preferred Shares
NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Mar. 19, 2018– Apollo Global Management, LLC (NYSE:APO) (together with its consolidated subsidiaries, “Apollo”) today announced the closing of its previously announced offering of 6.375% Series B Preferred Shares (the “Series B Preferred Shares”) representing limited liability company interests with a liquidation preference of $25.00 per share. The offering amounted to 12,000,000 Series B Preferred Shares for gross proceeds of $300 million.
Apollo intends to contribute the net proceeds from the sale of the Series B Preferred Shares for general corporate purposes to its indirect subsidiaries, Apollo Principal Holdings I, L.P., Apollo Principal Holdings II, L.P., Apollo Principal Holdings III, L.P., Apollo Principal Holdings IV, L.P., Apollo Principal Holdings V, L.P., Apollo Principal Holdings VI, L.P., Apollo Principal Holdings VII, L.P., Apollo Principal Holdings VIII, L.P., Apollo Principal Holdings IX, L.P., Apollo Principal Holdings X, L.P., Apollo Principal Holdings XI, LLC, Apollo Principal Holdings XII, L.P. and AMH Holdings (Cayman), L.P.
Distributions on the Series B Preferred Shares, when and if declared by AGM Management, LLC, Apollo’s manager, will be paid quarterly and are non-cumulative.
Apollo intends to list the Series B Preferred Shares on the NYSE under the ticker symbol “APO PR B”.
BofA Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, UBS Investment Bank and Wells Fargo Securities acted as joint book-running managers for the offering, Barclays, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank Securities, Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, J.P. Morgan, RBC Capital Marketsand US Bancorp acted as joint lead managers for the offering.
This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to purchase the Series B Preferred Shares or any other securities, and does not constitute an offer, solicitation or sale in any state or jurisdiction in which such an offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to the registration and qualification under the securities laws of such state or jurisdiction. A shelf registration statement relating to these securities has been filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and has become effective.
The offering may be made only by means of a prospectus supplement and an accompanying prospectus. A preliminary prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus relating to the offering were filed with the SEC and are available on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. A copy of the final prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus relating to the offering may be obtained from (1) Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated, NC1-004-03-43, 200 North College Street, 3rd Floor, Charlotte, NC 28255-0001, Attention: Prospectus Department or by phone at 1-800-294-1322 or by email at dg.prospectus_requests@baml.com, (2) Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, 180 Varick Street, New York, NY 10014, Attention: Prospectus Department or by phone at 1-866-718-1649 or by email at prospectus@morganstanley.com, (3) UBS Securities LLC, 1285 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10019, Attention: Prospectus Specialist or by phone at 1-888-827-7275 and (4) Wells Fargo Securities, LLC, 608 2nd Avenue South, Suite 1000,Minneapolis, MN 55402, Attention: WFS Customer Service or by phone at 1-800-645-3751 or by email at wfscustomerservice@wellsfargo.com.
About Apollo
Apollo is a leading global alternative investment manager with offices in New York, Los Angeles, Houston, Chicago, Bethesda, Toronto, London, Frankfurt, Madrid, Luxembourg, Mumbai, Delhi, Singapore, Hong Kong and Shanghai. Apollo had assets under management of approximately $249 billion as of December 31, 2017 in private equity, credit and real assets funds invested across a core group of nine industries where Apollo has considerable knowledge and resources.
Forward Looking Statements
This press release may contain forward looking statements with respect to Apollo that are within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These statements include, but are not limited to, discussions related to Apollo’s expectations regarding the performance of its business, its liquidity and capital resources and the other non-historical statements contained herein. These forward-looking statements are based on management’s beliefs, as well as assumptions made by, and information currently available to, management. When used in this press release, the words “believe,” “anticipate,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Although management believes that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that these expectations will prove to have been correct. These statements are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions. We believe these factors include but are not limited to those described under the section entitled “Risk Factors” in Apollo’s Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) on February 12, 2018, as such factors may be updated from time to time in Apollo’s periodic filings with the SEC, which are accessible on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. These factors should not be construed as exhaustive and should be read in conjunction with the other cautionary statements that are included in this press release and in other SEC filings. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or review any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as required by applicable law. This press release does not constitute an offer of Apollo or any Apollo fund.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180319006261/en/
Source: Apollo Global Management, LLC For investor inquiries regarding Apollo Global Management, please contact: Apollo Global Management, LLC Gary M. Stein, 212-822-0467 Head of Corporate Communications gstein@apollolp.com or Noah Gunn, 212-822-0540 Investor Relations Manager ngunn@apollolp.com or For media inquiries regarding Apollo Global Management, please contact: Rubenstein Associates, Inc. for Apollo Global Management, LLC Charles Zehren, 212-843-8590 czehren@rubenstein.comAbu Dhabi Launches Six Historic Oil and Gas Licensing Opportunities
The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) announced, today, as part of Abu Dhabi’s first ever block licensing strategy and on behalf of the Supreme Petroleum Council (SPC), the details of the initial round of six geographical oil and gas blocks open for bidding. This follows the announcement last month by His Excellency Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE Minister of State and ADNOC Group CEO that Abu Dhabi was to launch its first ever competitive exploration and production bid round.
The licensing strategy represents a major advance in how Abu Dhabi unlocks new opportunities and maximizes value from its hydrocarbon resources. It is also consistent with ADNOC’s approach to expanding its strategic partnerships across all areas of its business. The successful bidders will enter into agreements granting exploration rights and, provided defined targets are achieved in the exploration phase, be granted the opportunity to develop and produce any discoveries with ADNOC, under terms that will be set out in the bidding package.
H.E. Dr Al Jaber said: “The launch of these large new licensing blocks is an important step for Abu Dhabi and ADNOC as we develop and apply new strategies to realize the full potential of our resources, maximize value through competitive bidding and accelerate the exploration and development of new commercial opportunities.
“This approach is central to our expanded partnership strategy, which aims to introduce new opportunities as we broaden and diversify our partnership base. In addition, as we begin to expand our downstream portfolio, the new licensing blocks reinforce our long term production growth ambitions and builds on our successful legacy as a leading upstream player. This is a rare and exciting opportunity, for both existing and new partners, in a secure and stable investment environment
The UAE is the world’s seventh largest oil producer, with about 96% of its reserves within the emirate of Abu Dhabi. Located in one of the world’s largest hydrocarbon super-basins, there remains undiscovered and undeveloped potential in the numerous stacked reservoirs. Based on existing data from detailed petroleum system studies, seismic surveys, log files and core samples from hundreds of appraisal wells, estimates suggest these new blocks hold multiple billion barrels of oil and multiple trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Some of the blocks already have discoveries, and within the combined area there are 310 targeted reservoirs from 110 prospects and leads. In addition to the country’s conventional oil and gas accumulations, some of the offered blocks also contain significant unconventional resource potential.
The six blocks open for bidding, two of which are offshore and four are onshore, cover an area of between 2,500 and 6,300 square kilometres, which, by comparison, is up to three quarters of a U.K. North Sea quadrant, consisting of 30 blocks. In total, Abu Dhabi’s six blocks comprise an area of almost 30,000 km2 .
ADNOC has established a dedicated website – www.adnoc.ae/Block-Bid – where the company provides information on the blocks and which has a portal where interested bidders can register to participate, subject to a strict prequalification process undertaken by ADNOC.
The website also provides details of a global roadshow of technical and commercial information on the new blocks. After the roadshow, bidders will confirm their participation through an Expression of Interest and will be able to purchase a comprehensive data package on the six blocks. The data package will include full bidding instructions and regional geological information, in addition to well and seismic data, in both raw and interpreted form, on all six blocks.
Registration is open to companies with suitable expertise and technology that can contribute to accelerating the exploration and development of new conventional and unconventional hydrocarbon opportunities in Abu Dhabi.
The closing date for the receipt of bids will be in October, after which ADNOC will evaluate the bids, using the criteria set out in the bidding instructions, and the SPC will award the successful bidders. The first bid round is planned to conclude this year.
“This approach is central to our expanded partnership strategy, which aims to introduce new opportunities as we broaden and diversify our partnership base. In addition, as we begin to expand our downstream portfolio, the new licensing blocks reinforce our long term production growth ambitions and builds on our successful legacy as a leading upstream player. This is a rare and exciting opportunity, for both existing and new partners, in a secure and stable investment environment
The UAE is the world’s seventh largest oil producer, with about 96% of its reserves within the emirate of Abu Dhabi. Located in one of the world’s largest hydrocarbon super-basins, there remains undiscovered and undeveloped potential in the numerous stacked reservoirs. Based on existing data from detailed petroleum system studies, seismic surveys, log files and core samples from hundreds of appraisal wells, estimates suggest these new blocks hold multiple billion barrels of oil and multiple trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Some of the blocks already have discoveries, and within the combined area there are 310 targeted reservoirs from 110 prospects and leads. In addition to the country’s conventional oil and gas accumulations, some of the offered blocks also contain significant unconventional resource potential.
The six blocks open for bidding, two of which are offshore and four are onshore, cover an area of between 2,500 and 6,300 square kilometres, which, by comparison, is up to three quarters of a U.K. North Sea quadrant, consisting of 30 blocks. In total, Abu Dhabi’s six blocks comprise an area of almost 30,000 km2 .
ADNOC has established a dedicated website – www.adnoc.ae/Block-Bid – where the company provides information on the blocks and which has a portal where interested bidders can register to participate, subject to a strict prequalification process undertaken by ADNOC.
The website also provides details of a global roadshow of technical and commercial information on the new blocks. After the roadshow, bidders will confirm their participation through an Expression of Interest and will be able to purchase a comprehensive data package on the six blocks. The data package will include full bidding instructions and regional geological information, in addition to well and seismic data, in both raw and interpreted form, on all six blocks.
Registration is open to companies with suitable expertise and technology that can contribute to accelerating the exploration and development of new conventional and unconventional hydrocarbon opportunities in Abu Dhabi.
The closing date for the receipt of bids will be in October, after which ADNOC will evaluate the bids, using the criteria set out in the bidding instructions, and the SPC will award the successful bidders. The first bid round is planned to conclude this year. Airbus corporate jet is highlighted at ABACE show
Airbus Corporate Jets (ACJ) is highlighting the better travel experience that its aircraft provide, together with their many other benefits, at the ABACE[1] show.
Airbus’ ACJ320 Family – represented at the show by an Al Jaber Aviation ACJ318 that is offered for VVIP charter – features the widest and tallest cabin of any business jet, while being comparable in size and having similar operating costs to traditional business jets.
“Airbus corporate jets give you the freedom to get on with life that is missing in traditional bizjets, whether you want to work, rest or play, and you can take along more colleagues, friends and family too,” says ACJ President Benoit Defforge.
The heart of today’s Airbus corporate jet family are the ACJ319neo[2], which can fly eight passengers 6,700 nm/12,500 km or 15 hours, and the ACJ320neo, which can transport 25 passengers 6,000 nm/11,100 km or 13 hours.
Deliveries of the ACJ320neo begin at the end of this year, with those of the ACJ319neo following in the second quarter of 2019. Customers include Acropolis Aviation, Comlux and K5 Aviation.
Both aircraft feature new-generation engines and Sharklets, which save fuel, enable even more intercontinental range and equip them for a long and successful future.
Like all Airbus aircraft in production, the ACJ319neo and ACJ320neo have the built-in protection of fly-by-wire controls – today’s industry standard in both airliners and business jets – plus time and cost-saving centralised maintenance, and extensive use of weight-saving new materials.
For customers wanting even more passenger capacity plus nonstop to the world range, Airbus offers a complete family of VIP widebodies. This family includes the new ACJ330 NEO and ACJ350 XWB, which can fly for 20 hours 45 minutes and 22 hours 30 minutes, respectively.
Airbus corporate jet customers benefit from airliner-reliability and a worldwide support network – sized to serve more than 10,000 aircraft and over 500 customers and operators. They also get services tailored to their specific needs, such as the Airbus corporate jet customer-care centre (C4you) and ACJ Service Centre Network.
More than 190 Airbus corporate jets are in service worldwide, including around 20 in greater China. They are flying on every continent, including Antarctica, highlighting their versatility around the clock around the world.
Together, Airbus Corporate Jets and Airbus Corporate Helicopters (ACH) are uniquely well placed to provide modern and efficient combined solutions to the air travel needs of customers worldwide.
About Airbus Corporate Jets
Airbus Corporate Jets (ACJ) creates the world’s most rewarding flying experiences for customers by providing them with unique expertise, the finest service, best technology and highest standards of care in corporate aviation. All Airbus corporate jets come from the most modern aircraft family on the market, derived from Airbus’ successful market-leading jetliners.
www.airbuscorporatejets.com
easyJet celebrates first flights from Edinburgh to Jersey with help from viral Scottish sensation Kilted Yoga
easyJet, Europe’s leading airline, has teamed up with Visit Jersey and viral video sensation ‘Kilted Yoga’ to celebrate the first flight on a new route between Edinburgh and Jersey, which takes off from Edinburgh this Saturday 31 March.
Scotland’s famous Kilted Yoga pair, best known for doing downward dog in nothing but kilts, became an instant viral sensation when their first film was viewed over 55 million times worldwide. A new video set in Jersey sees the boys in a variety of mesmerising poses in some of the island’s most mesmerising locations to mark the launch of the new easyJet route and showcasing the variety that Jersey has to offer for easyJet’s Scottish customers.
The full video is available to view at https://www.jersey.com/kiltedyoga
Ali Gayward, easyJet UK Country Manager said:
“We are delighted to be celebrating our first flight between Edinburgh and Jersey which we are sure will prove popular for our Scottish customers looking to discover the variety that the island of Jersey has to offer.
“This year easyJet is celebrating 10 years at Jersey and the addition of this route demonstrates our continued commitment to providing even more choice for our customers in Jersey and Scotland, helping us to deliver long term, sustainable growth and providing passengers with a great range of destinations all with a convenient schedule, low fares and great service for both leisure and business travellers.”
On behalf of Ports of Jersey, Myra Shacklady who oversees the company’s route development programme says:
“2018 is a significant year for Jersey and easyJet. Not only do we mark the airline’s 10th anniversary of its Jersey route network but we welcome this new service to Edinburgh, which I have no doubt will not only prove popular with local residents but also opens up a further opportunity to increase its inbound visitor market.”
Gordon Dewar, chief executive of Edinburgh Airport said:
“Expanding options for passengers is what we’re all about at Edinburgh Airport and we’re delighted to be offering another route to Jersey, whether it’s for scenic beaches, history or culture, and I’m sure this route will be a fantastic success.
“Our relationship with easyJet goes from strength to strength and their continued expansion at Scotland’s busiest airport is good news for the airport, the airline and passengers.”
Finlay Wilson, the Kilted Yoga founding member commented:
“Our first Kilted Yoga film was a big hit last year, so we were very excited when we received the invite to make a follow up film in Jersey. The Island has some spectacular scenery, so whether you’re into yoga or just enjoy getting outdoors, hopefully we’ve inspired Scots to visit the Island and with easyJet’s new route that’s now easier than ever.”
easyJet flights from Edinburgh to Jersey depart on Tuesdays and Saturdays throughout the summer season. Tickets are available at www.easyjet.com with fares starting from £30.74*.
easyJet is the largest airline in Scotland carrying almost one in three Scottish travellers and in 2018 will continue to grow as the number of seats on sale will increase around 5% to over eight million.
This month easyJet is celebrating ten years flying to and from Jersey and now operates eight routes and over 132 flights a week during peak summer, flying over 600,000 passengers to and from Jersey across its UK network each year.
For more information on easyJet’s network visit www.easyJet.com
For further information, please contact the easyJet Press Office on 01582 525252, log onto www.easyjet.com or follow @easyJet_Press
EVOPS MARKETING & PR APPOINTS HINA BAKHT AS MANAGING DIRECTOR
DUBAI – EVOPS DMCC has announced the appointment of Hina Bakht as the company’s managing director. Hina has a proven track-record in the industry with over 25 years of outstanding experience. During the course of her distinguished career, she has served a prestigious and diverse list of clients ranging from travel, hospitality and tourism sector to technology, fashion, real estate, banking and finance industry. Some prominent names among those have been VFS Global, VFS Tasheel, Dubai Investments, Dubai Investments Park, Reem Investments, Ajman Bank, Al Shafar General Contracting (ASGC), Palm Utilities, Monaco Government Tourist Board, Maybach, Matthews Southwest, Guerlain Paris, MAC Cosmetics and Ritu Kumar.
Michel Noblet, Chairman of EVOPS DMCC, stated, “We are very excited to welcome Hina in our corporate team. Her experience in managing agencies together with multiple industry expertise and relationships will be immensely valuable in leading EVOPS which is an integrated marketing, PR and social media firm. We are confident under Hina’s leadership EVOPS will grow to the next level of success offering world-class solutions to our clients.”
In her new role, Hina will focus on business and client expansion as well as the development of multi-disciplinary partnerships.
Upon joining EVOPS, Hina commented, “I am delighted to take up this wonderful new challenge and truly grateful to the Board of Directors of EVOPS for having offered me the position. Digital processes are changing how media is created, distributed and consumed and I am thrilled to lead EVOPS at this exciting time. The accelerating pace of digitalization and growth of social media in the Middle East is driving demand for agencies that offer integrated services with result driven strategies. What is also critical for businesses today is the speed of communication and EVOPS is ideally equipped with the necessary resources to offer organizations proactive and effective solutions. I look forward to positioning EVOPS as the most reliable communications partner for our clients delivering world-class service.”
Prior to joining EVOPS, Hina was the Vice President of MPJ – Marketing Pro-Junction responsible for business management, development and operation. She holds a masters’ degree from the prestigious Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi.
For media contact:
Hina.bakht@evops-pr.com
Mob: 00971 50 6975146
Tel: 00971 4 566 7355
Office: 1-E, Silver Tower, Cluster I,
Jumeirah Lakes Towers
Dubai, U.A.E
www.evops-pr.com
About EVOPS Marketing & PR
EVOPS Marketing & PR is equipped with the latest technology and digital capability to provide businesses with the most comprehensive and innovative marketing solutions and strategies. With an integrated 360° marketing approach, the agency offers its high-profile clients bespoke, seamless and personalized service in an era of fast-paced, real-time smart marketing. Included in its services are marketing strategy consultancy, PR, social media, advertising, creative design, web and app development, and events management.
For more information visit www.evops-pr.com
Facebook Launches New Initiative to Help Scholars Assess Social Media’s Impact on Elections
Today, Facebook is announcing a new initiative to help provide independent, credible research about the role of social media in elections, as well as democracy more generally. It will be funded by the Laura and John Arnold Foundation, Democracy Fund, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Charles Koch Foundation, the Omidyar Network, and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
At the heart of this initiative will be a group of scholars who will:
- Define the research agenda;
- Solicit proposals for independent research on a range of different topics; and
- Manage a peer review process to select scholars who will receive funding for their research, as well as access to privacy-protected datasets from Facebook which they can analyze.
Digitalizing Japanese Enterprises with Hakuhodo
We’re taking the Next Big Step in Asia by partnering with Hakuhodo, one of the top advertising and PR agencies in Japan. Our joint effort is a full-service package called Innovation Generator. It enables Japanese enterprises to build and grow innovative digital services.
In 2013, we opened our Tokyo office with big plans to make our mark out here.
It has surprised me how fast the Japanese society is evolving around technology. The demand for good quality digital innovation is huge. With the 2020 Olympics coming up, the digital landscape in Tokyo is pressured to adjust quickly – many Japanese digital services still don’t work too well for foreign visitors.
Over the years we’ve designed and shipped great digital services with great Japanese companies. Financial services, IoT, mobile applications, wearables, eCommerce, robots, heavy industry. We have found amazing clients and hired a strong multi-disciplinary team to Tokyo.
The ambition levels have gone up at every step along the way.We want to make an even more substantial impact on Japanese businesses and society.
This year we got to know some great people from Hakuhodo, and started working together in a high-profile project for a large Japanese enterprise customer. Our business is all about people and let me tell you, Hakuhodo sure understands people. There is no company that has more insight on Japanese consumers, businesses, or people running them.
Seeing the potential, we decided to make this collaboration bigger, and now I’m proud to announce the result: Innovation Generator!
The Generator is a comprehensive digital technology support service aimed for Japanese enterprise companies. Together with Hakuhodo, we help companies develop new businesses and digitalize their existing businesses. Our mission is to build the greatest digital services in Japan.
The last three years in Japan have really taught our team about the importance of relationships and local culture here. With Hakuhodo and Reaktor joining forces, we’ll be able to design, develop and grow the best services in the Japanese market. The variety of the combined track-record of our companies is unmatched.
Standard Chartered re-aligns Commercial Banking, Private Banking and Wealth reporting lines
London and Singapore – Standard Chartered PLC (the Group) announced today an immediate realignment of the reporting lines for its Commercial Banking and Private Banking businesses, alongside an accelerated transfer of responsibility for the ASEAN and South Asia (ASA) region. This follows Anna Marrs’ decision to leave the Group in September to return to London with another financial services company.
Anna, Regional CEO, ASA and CEO, Commercial and Private Banking, is leaving the Group on September 9, 2018. Anna will continue in her current role as Regional CEO, ASA until May 31, 2018. During this time, she will continue the previously-announced comprehensive handover of her regional responsibilities to Judy Hsu, CEO, Singapore and ASEAN markets. Judy will now take over as Regional CEO, ASA, on June 1, subject to regulatory approval. Judy will remain CEO, Singapore until a successor is appointed.
While the strategy and business structure of the Group will remain the same, internal reporting lines for the Commercial Banking, Private Banking and Wealth businesses have been realigned to reflect the increasing collaboration between the client segment businesses:
- Commercial Banking (CB) will report into Simon Cooper, CEO, Corporate and Institutional Banking (CIB), effective immediately. We will continue to look to Country CEOs to drive client relationships, and CB will remain a distinct business in Simon’s portfolio. Jiten Arora, Regional Head, CB, ASEAN and South Asia, will take interim responsibility for the CB business, with a permanent head to be appointed in due course.
- Didier von Daeniken will continue to run Private Banking and Wealth Management. For his Wealth responsibilities, he will report to Ben Hung, Regional CEO, Greater China and North Asia and CEO, Retail Banking. Ben will work with Didier and the Retail team to further align strategies between these businesses and will help ensure that our Wealth priorities maximise the value of both Retail and Private Banking.
Michael Bolton Presents ‘American Dream: Detroit,’ a Love Letter From Motor City Legends Chronicling the Greatest Urban Turnaround in American History, in Cinemas Nationwide May 15 Only
Michael Bolton, the multiple Grammy® Award-winning singer, songwriter and social activist who has sold more than 65 million records worldwide, was first drawn to Detroit while researching for his album “A Tribute to Hitsville USA.” The home of his greatest musical influences, he realized that there was so much more to explore about Detroit’s past, present and future. His resulting project, the engaging and uplifting documentary “American Dream: Detroit,” celebrates the golden age of the Motor City – featuring its native entertainment legends like Francis Ford Coppola, Jerry Bruckheimer, Aretha Franklin, Smokey Robinson and Alice Cooper – and reveals the landscape of a new Detroit being built by young visionaries and entrepreneurial moguls alike.
In addition to the documentary, moviegoers will enjoy an exclusive performance from Michael Bolton & Friends, captured live from The Grove in Los Angeles.
Tickets for “Michael Bolton Presents American Dream: Detroit” go on sale to the public on Friday, April 13 at www.FathomEvents.com and participating box offices. Michael Bolton fans can get early access to tickets on April 11 by signing up in advance at www.MichaelBolton.com.
Fathom Events and Passion Films bring “Michael Bolton Presents American Dream: Detroit” to over 450 U.S. cinemas for one night on Tuesday, May 15, 2018 at 7:00 p.m. local time, through Fathom’s Digital Broadcast Network (DBN). A complete list of locations will be available April 13 on the Fathom Events website (cinemas and participants are subject to change).
This documentary illustrates why the history and the future of Detroit matters in the global landscape. Told through the eyes of Bolton’s own discovery, this important story has remained largely obscured by mainstream media’s preference to portray only the devastation of the city’s downfall, until now. This is the story of the American Dream.
“This documentary is a truly inspiring tale of a city’s historical transformation that is certain to entertain, educate and move fans coast to coast,” said Fathom Events CEO Ray Nutt. “Additionally, the special bonus concert is a must-see for my friend Michael and ‘Hitsville USA‘ aficionados.”
DUBAI REAFFIRMS ITS POSITION AS THE CRUISE HUB OF THE REGION AT SEATRADE CRUISE GLOBAL
Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (Dubai Tourism) highlighted Dubai’s growing popularity as a global cruise destination viable for pre-cruise and post-cruise stopovers and an apt homeport in the region at the Seatrade Cruise Global in Florida, USA, a leading event for the cruise industry. Dubai Tourism exhibited under the Cruise Arabia banner, bringing together the tourism authorities of Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Bahrain on a unified stand with the goal of promoting the region as a whole, and improving business sustainability and development.
The 3-day event also saw successful networking and business opportunities with leading brands in the global cruise industry, including world-class cruise lines, to discuss deployments and homeporting opportunities in Dubai to heighten the awareness of the destination’s cruise offerings to a global audience across Spain, Brazil, UK, USA, in addition to the traditional source markets across Germany, Italy, France and over 40 other countries.
Arabian Travel Market launches inaugural ‘Career in Travel’ student conference
- ATM to debut exclusive student programme to promote opportunities for ‘tomorrow’s’ travel professionals and hoteliers
- Tourism employment in the UAE expected to grow to 394,000 by 2026 and 781,000 by 2027 in Saudi Arabia
Book Your Hotel by Hours Now in UAE
ByHours.com allows you to book hotel rooms in 3, 6, 12, 24, 36 and 48 hour packs, and decide your hotel check-in and check-out time. Moreover, ByHours.com sells meeting rooms by packs of 2, 4 and 8 hours, to increase their revenue and offer the customer a flexible product. ByHours.com is introducing the pay-per-use model in hotel industry.
Founded in March 2012 in Barcelona, ByHours.com is one of the startups of the year in Spain. It is the winner of several awards for being an innovative project that has introduced a new business model in the tourism sector, and for its growth, as in just 2 years there are already 28 people working in its offices.
ByHours.com is an on-line platform and is also a mobile application, which allows the customer to choose their hotel check-in and check-out time, and book the hours they need, in packs of 3, 6, 12, 24, 36 and 48 hours. On one hand, it offers the customer flexibility and payment according to use, so that they can book a hotel only for the time they need it, always based on fair Price. On the other hand, it allows hotel operators to make their rooms more profitable, as they can sell them more than once per day, and this increase their RevPAR.
ByHours.com is already working with over 600 hotels all over Spain from the best national and international hotel chains, such as H10, Eurostars or Meliá. Now, having consolidated the business model in Spain, it will open its way into internationalization and will operate in the UK, Germany, and Italy within the first and the second quarter of 2014. Actually, ByHours.com is operating in London, with 10 own recruited hotels.
In this internationalization stage, ByHours.com has added experience and talent to its team, and included a new signing: Amine Saoudi, former CFO from Splendia.com, who has a great career path in opening new markets.
ByHours.com is intended for all those situations where a hotel is only needed for a few hours, and so it offers hotels near train stations, ports, and airports, in order to avoid waiting; hotels near congress centers, urban centers, and highway rest areas; and also hotels near hospitals for all patients or accompanying persons needing a few hotel hours in order to rest, but without moving too far off from the health center.
In relation to daily hotel operations, ByHours.com provides an internal tool that allows them to decide the price, hour packs, and check-in hours they want to sell, as well as connect with their PMS-Channel Manager, to make management easier and faster. The hotel operator decides at all times what they want to sell, how, and at what price, and ByHours.com receives a direct commission from the hotel operator, as the customer always pays at the hotel.
The key to ByHours.com resides in that it is not only a site aimed at the final client, but also aimed at B2B. Thus, it has three business lines: Travel, Healthcare, and Leisure. These business lines allow us to work with important partners from different sectors, with ByHours.com being the only hotel accommodation-by-hours distributor. ByHours.com offers integration tools, such as for example White labels, which are completely customizable, allowing each partner to design its hotelby-hours search engine with their corporate image, and offer their customers an added value and a complementary product.
In the travel line, ByHours.com is working with the number 1 in online flight sales, the Odigeo Group. eDreams is already selling hotel rooms by hours in Spain on its website. It is a very ambitious agreement that upon internationalization, it will let us work with other Odigeo brands: Opodo, Travellink, and GoVoyages.
In this business line, ByHours.com also works with major industry leaders such as Pullmantur, Viajes Carrefour, or Grupo Areas. Within its Healthcare line, ByHours.com is working with hospitals all over Spain, which already offer accommodation by hours at their centers; this is also a product very much targeted towards health tourism. ByHours Healthcare also works with major insurance companies, which offer this service in their policies.
Finally, the Leisure line is designed to complement leisure situations, and therefore ByHours.com works with ticketing companies, and also in different actions with nightclubs, theaters, movie theaters, or special events, in order to offer a different and complementary service.
Founded in March 2012 in Barcelona, ByHours.com is one of the startups of the year in Spain. It is the winner of several awards for being an innovative project that has introduced a new business model in the tourism sector, and for its growth, as in just 2 years there are already 28 people working in its offices.
ByHours.com is an on-line platform and is also a mobile application, which allows the customer to choose their hotel check-in and check-out time, and book the hours they need, in packs of 3, 6, 12, 24, 36 and 48 hours. On one hand, it offers the customer flexibility and payment according to use, so that they can book a hotel only for the time they need it, always based on fair Price. On the other hand, it allows hotel operators to make their rooms more profitable, as they can sell them more than once per day, and this increase their RevPAR.
ByHours.com is already working with over 600 hotels all over Spain from the best national and international hotel chains, such as H10, Eurostars or Meliá. Now, having consolidated the business model in Spain, it will open its way into internationalization and will operate in the UK, Germany, and Italy within the first and the second quarter of 2014. Actually, ByHours.com is operating in London, with 10 own recruited hotels.
In this internationalization stage, ByHours.com has added experience and talent to its team, and included a new signing: Amine Saoudi, former CFO from Splendia.com, who has a great career path in opening new markets.
ByHours.com is intended for all those situations where a hotel is only needed for a few hours, and so it offers hotels near train stations, ports, and airports, in order to avoid waiting; hotels near congress centers, urban centers, and highway rest areas; and also hotels near hospitals for all patients or accompanying persons needing a few hotel hours in order to rest, but without moving too far off from the health center.
In relation to daily hotel operations, ByHours.com provides an internal tool that allows them to decide the price, hour packs, and check-in hours they want to sell, as well as connect with their PMS-Channel Manager, to make management easier and faster. The hotel operator decides at all times what they want to sell, how, and at what price, and ByHours.com receives a direct commission from the hotel operator, as the customer always pays at the hotel.
The key to ByHours.com resides in that it is not only a site aimed at the final client, but also aimed at B2B. Thus, it has three business lines: Travel, Healthcare, and Leisure. These business lines allow us to work with important partners from different sectors, with ByHours.com being the only hotel accommodation-by-hours distributor. ByHours.com offers integration tools, such as for example White labels, which are completely customizable, allowing each partner to design its hotelby-hours search engine with their corporate image, and offer their customers an added value and a complementary product.
In the travel line, ByHours.com is working with the number 1 in online flight sales, the Odigeo Group. eDreams is already selling hotel rooms by hours in Spain on its website. It is a very ambitious agreement that upon internationalization, it will let us work with other Odigeo brands: Opodo, Travellink, and GoVoyages.
In this business line, ByHours.com also works with major industry leaders such as Pullmantur, Viajes Carrefour, or Grupo Areas. Within its Healthcare line, ByHours.com is working with hospitals all over Spain, which already offer accommodation by hours at their centers; this is also a product very much targeted towards health tourism. ByHours Healthcare also works with major insurance companies, which offer this service in their policies.
Finally, the Leisure line is designed to complement leisure situations, and therefore ByHours.com works with ticketing companies, and also in different actions with nightclubs, theaters, movie theaters, or special events, in order to offer a different and complementary service.
ByHours.com Mobile app
The ByHours.com app, which is free and available for Android and iOS, is the only one that offers the user the ability to book hotels in major hotel chains in the country, in packs of 3, 6, 12, 24, 36 and 48 hours, and decide the hotel check-in and check-out time. In addition, thanks to its geolocation system, the app lets us find the closest hotels to the point where the user is, and book in 3 easy steps: decide the city, hour pack, and chosen hotel check-in time. All this, in order to offer flexible bookings to the user:
SWISS-BELHOTEL INTERNATIONAL AMONG TOP 10 MOST ACTIVE BRANDS IN KSA
Saudi Arabia – An exclusive report by TOPHOTELPROJECTS for The Hotel Show Saudi Arabia 2018 has identified Swiss-Belhotel International among the top ten most active brands in the Kingdom. The group currently has five projects featuring over 1200 rooms under development in KSA.
Laurent A. Voivenel, Senior Vice President, Operations and Development for the Middle East, Africa and India for Swiss-Belhotel International, said, “KSA is a very significant market for us with 35% of our development pipeline concentrated in the Kingdom. Out of the six hotels opening this year, three are located in Saudi Arabia. Two of these will be in the capital city of Riyadh i.e. Swiss-Belboutique Tahlia Riyadh, a deluxe 4-star hotel featuring 60 rooms and Swiss-Belhotel Riyadh, a 4-star hotel featuring 112 rooms. Both hotels are owned by Jumaiah Group. In addition, we will be making our debut in the second half of 2018 into the Holy city of Makkah with Swiss-Belhotel Al Aziziya Makkah. Featuring 525 rooms, the upscale 4-star property is owned by Cardamom International Property Management LLC and is superbly located in the rapidly expanding hotel hub of Makkah only a few minutes’ drive away from Al-Masjid Al-Haram in Al Aziziya”.
Saudi hospitality sector is set to grow at 13.5% CAGR per annum up to 2022. Widespread investment in the Kingdom’s tourism and infrastructure sector in pursuit of attracting 30 million visitors annually by 2030 is driving demand for quality accommodation. With 40,020 keys in 89 projects, the country at the moment has the most hotel rooms under construction in the Middle East and North Africa.
Laurent stressed, “Saudi Arabia is a market that is currently under supplied in terms of hotels and is, therefore, projected to show strong growth over the next few years and we are extremely keen to take advantage of this massive opportunity. Our expansion in Saudi Arabia, like the rest of the region, demonstrates the confidence of owners in the strength of our brands. At Swiss-Belhotel International, with 14 well-established brands, we are well equipped to meet the needs of every segment of Saudi hotel sector. We believe our upcoming hotels will add tremendous value to our growing presence in the country”.
Swiss-Belhotel International will be present at Arabian Travel Market from 22 to 25 April on stand ‘HC1130’ in Sheikh Saeed Hall in Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre.
SoSPA
Indulge in a luxury spa, with treatment rooms, therapeutic pools, a steam room, hammam and outdoor cabanas for massages. Renew your body and revive your mind with SoSPA’s French-Polynesian charm. Allow SoSPA’s skilled therapists to transport you to a world of relaxation and ensure deep therapeutic experiences.
With 28 treatment rooms and private outdoor cabanas for couples, SoSPA offers personalised spa experiences combining Polynesian traditions with high-quality beauty products by Voya and NUXE. There are two separate areas for men and women.
Candles, natural light and the subtle scent of lavender create an instantly relaxing feel at SoSPA. Choose from a wide range of treatments, from Thai and Aryuvedic massages to Vichy showers.
Open daily from 09.00am to 09.00pm*
Phone: +971 44 55 54 33 or 54 34
Email: so-spa.palmdubai@sofitel.com
Dahlia Spa named a winner
Dahlia Spa at Four Seasons Hotel Abu Dhabi has scooped a world-class award.
The winners of the 2018 World Spa & Wellness Awards were announced in a glamorous awards ceremony in London on February 25. The World Spa & Wellness Awards, a black-tie event held at the Tobacco Dock events venue in East London, honours hotels and resort spas, and wellness destinations, around the world.
The 2018 World Spa & Wellness Awards from our region were:
Resort Spa of the Year: Middle East & Africa – Sponsored by Elemis Hilltop Spa at Four Seasons Resort Seychelles
Hotel Spa of the Year: Middle East & Africa – Sponsored by Spatec Dahlia Spa at Four Seasons Hotel Abu Dhabi at Al Maryah Island, UAE