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MENAFN Mar 15 2009 5:34AM GMT
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The premium Italian-style coffee house brand, Caffè Nero, has opened its first store in the Middle East, in The Dubai Mall. The new 1,900 square-foot, 86-seat store is the first by exclusive franchisee Al Tayer Trends, with plans to open new stores and expand to Saudi Arabia and other GCC markets in the near future. The company plans to open at least 50 Caffè Nero outlets across the GCC over the next five years.

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The price of most grocery products rose in Saudi Arabia last year, changing the buying habits of people living in the kingdom. Research firm TNS found that consumers continued to spend the same amount of money on their weekly shop, but bought fewer items. The shortfall on groceries bought was then made up by more frequent visits to local, small grocery shops.

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Households in Saudi Arabia have changed their buying habits for essential household grocery items, according to research firm TNS. It said that when the price of edible oil went up by 28%, households continued using the same quantities, but switched to cheaper brands. But when the price of milk powder rose, many reduced consumption to stick with their brands. Others switched to fresh or UHT milk, which both experienced smaller price increases.
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Dubai-based developer Emaar Properties has won a court case filed against it by Saudi Arabia’s Jadawel International for a .2bn compensation claim, reported Khaleej Times. Emaar’s Saudi subsidiary, Emaar Economic City, and Jadawel, which is owned by Mohammed Bin Issa Al Jaber, sued Emaar in 2004 over allegedly failing to execute agreed projects and violating the terms of their partnership. Contesting the case, Emaar maintained that it did not breach any agreement or law in relation to this deal, which was aborted as a result of the conditions not being met. The dispute was referred to arbitration in 2005 following a ruling by the Board of Grievances in Saudi Arabia that it has no jurisdiction to look into the issue.
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A new report says sovereign wealth funds may increase investment in commercial real estate to a net 5bn by 2015 as they diversify their holdings from stocks and bonds, reported Bloomberg. CB Richard Ellis Group, the world's largest commercial-property broker, noted in its report that the funds will probably raise the proportion of money they invest in real estate to 7% from 4% in the next seven years. Abu Dhabi, Norway, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and China have the largest funds.
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The Middle East Council of Shopping Centres has announced two workshops focused on leasing to be held in October and November. Each workshop is two days in duration and will be facilitated by industry expert Walter Kleinschmit, President or R2E Consultants. The ABC's of Leasing Workshops will be held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on October 11 - 12, 2008 and in Dubai on November 19 - 20, 2008. Aimed at regional mall operators and retailers, the workshop will highlight all aspects of lease management and the importance of well planned and researched leasing initiatives.
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September 18 - 2008 (Source: AME Info)
Alexis Waller, Partner in legal firm Clyde & Co’s real estate department, explains why the emirate’s new property laws 13 and 14 mark a new point in the city’s bid to increase regulation and transparency, and why investors should see the benefits.

Over the course of the past 18 months Dubai has pushed through a number of new legislative initiatives covering the city’s real estate sector.

This has served to increase transparency in the emirate’s property market and give direction to a sector that had been perceived as being unclear, and therefore higher risk, by outside investors.

The initiatives that have been put through include the creation of the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (Rera), which has undertaken to cover all aspects of the property market, including the creation of a price index for different types of property across the emirate.

More recently, in 2008, Laws 13 and 14 covering the registration of offplan property sale contracts and mortgages were also passed, legislating on pre-existing units, as was the Strata Law, which directly affects the owners of completed units.

‘We’re still waiting for the exact regulations from the Strata Law, although it was released in April,’ says Waller. ‘We’re also looking for the guidelines and the actual practice of the pre-registration and mortgage laws. Further laws on written guidelines aren’t going to be issued, so you have to ask questions as they come up and then a ruling on that point is issued.’

Legally-binding Land Court

Effective from the beginning of October a specialized Land Court will come into being to rule on all property-related legal disputes, significantly cutting down the waiting time, sometimes up to five years, and expense previously associated with taking matters to the civil courts.

‘Rera had a complaints department that was able to mediate but it had no enforcement power. Rera would pass cases to the civil courts, and they would then clog up the judicial system. Now the new Land Court will take everything on, I think there are already 500 pending cases, and the decision will be legally binding.’

This will also cover areas such as the ongoing disputes between investors and Saudi Arabian developer Sokook in the Ivory Tower development in Dubai’s International Media Production Zone.

In this case, where the developer has threatened to cancel existing contracts for breach of payment, despite the project not having broken ground, the cancellation of contracts will now have to be done through the Land Department. Sokook cannot now arbitrarily go ahead even if they disagree with Rera’s ruling on the case.
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A EU-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) summit will beginon Tuesday May 8, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

The summit could lead to a free trade deal between EU and the GCC - which includes Saudi Arabia, Bahrein, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Omand and Qatar.

The two blocs had started to negotiate a free trade agreement in 2002, however they failed to agree on a commons set of rules regarding investments and market access.