DUBAI, May 21 (Reuters) - Saudi developer Dar Al Arkan has launched a $450 million five-year Islamic bondoffering, a document from lead managers said on Tuesday, in thereal estate firm's first international bond sale in more thanthree years. The sukuk will price at 5.875 percent, the document said,tighter than the 6 percent guidance issued earlier on Tuesday,which itself was inside the 6.25 percent first given on Monday. ...

Foreign buyers are swooping on deserted villages in Sicily to snap up homes for as little as 10,000 euros ($13,000), propping up a property market in freefall as Italy suffers its longest-ever recession.

Retirement beckons, and this couple has some decisions to make.

BANGKOK, May 21 (Reuters) - Thai stocks ended flat onTuesday as property shares outperformed amid a low interest rateoutlook, with sentiment broadly weak in line with Asia ahead ofU.S. Federal Reserve head Ben Bernanke's testimony on Wednesday. Bangkok's SET index closed at 1,643.43, stillhovering at its highest in 19 years and four months. The Thaiproperty sub-index gained 0.2 percent, led by a 4percent rise in condominium developer LPN Development Pcl amid expectations of a cut in policy interest rate. Singapore's Straits Times Index slid 0.3 percent to3,443. ...

Dear Dr. Don, I recently purchased a new home with a 30-year mortgage fixed at 3.375 percent. I hate the idea of paying for a home for 30 years, not to mention the added interest over time. So, I have ...

Insurance Tornadoes Will Your Home Insurance Take On A Tornado? It seems to appear out of nowhere and is gone within minutes, but in that short time a tornado can devastate a home. The vital question is: ...

(Reuters) - Storage company Big Yellow Group Plc reported an 8 percent rise in profit despite the introduction of new taxes, as demand grew for self-storage in London and southeast England. The UK government introduced value added tax, or VAT, on storage rents in October 2012, prompting the company's prices to rise 10 to 12.5 percent. Adjusted pretax profit rose to 25.5 million pounds in the year ended March 31 from 23.6 million pounds a year earlier. Revenue rose 6 percent to 69.7 million pounds. ...

Transport operator ComfortDelGro Corporation rose morethan 2 percent to a near six-year high, lifting Singapore'sbenchmark stock index, after it announced plans to expand itsbus operations in Australia. The company's shares rose as much as 2.4 percent to S$2.14,the highest since July 2007, after it said its subsidiary CDCVictoria Pty Ltd plans to buy privately-held Driver Group PtyLtd for A$22 million ($21.54 million), to expand its fleet inAustralia. ...

DUBAI, May 21 (Reuters) - Saudi developer Dar Al Arkan has lowered price guidance on its planned Islamic bondissue, a document from lead bankers on the issue showed onTuesday. The company, which is planning to raise at least $300million from a five-year Islamic bond, revised its guidancelower to around 6 percent from initial yield guidance of 6.25percent, the document showed. An update from lead arrangers on Monday indicated that orderbooks were over $500 million. ...

* Arabtec says project timetables unaffected by strike * Liaising with UAE authorities, seeking quick resolution * Some striking labourers resumed work on Tuesday * Rare example of labour unrest in UAE (Recasts, adds worker comments, share price) DUBAI, May 21 (Reuters) - Arabtec, Dubai's largestconstruction firm, said on Tuesday the delivery of projects wasunaffected by what it called a partial labour stoppage, addingit was working with authorities in the United Arab Emirates toresolve the issue. ...

May 21 (Reuters) - The following corporate finance-relatedstories were reported by media on Tuesday: * Charlie Ergen, the chairman of U.S. satellite company DishNetwork Corp, has offered to buy bankrupt broadbandcompany LightSquared Inc's wireless airwaves, a source close toErgen told Reuters. Bloomberg reported the offer to be valued at$2 billion, citing people familiar with the bid. * U.S. ...

* DSI wins $461 mln contract in Saudi Arabia - statement * Lamar Towers in Jeddah to be completed in Q4 2015 (Recasts, adds details on project) DUBAI, May 21 (Reuters) - Dubai's Drake and Scull said on Tuesday it had won a contract worth 1.73 billion riyals($461.3 million) to build a twin-tower residential andcommercial development in the western Saudi Arabian city ofJeddah. The Lamar Towers consists of two towers, one 322 metres highand the other 293 metres, to be built in Jeddah's Corniche area. ...

Singapore shares edged down, with Singapore TelecommunicationsLtd declining 2 percent after OCBC cut its rating onthe sector. "In the search for yield, telco stocks have done very well,rising some 14 percent to 26 percent year to date, versus theSTI's 9 percent climb," OCBC said in a report. "However, given the still-muted outlook, we believe that theshare prices have run up too much, too quickly, and this hasdriven yields down to below 5 percent." It downgraded the sector to "neutral" from "overweight". ...

DUBAI, May 21 (Reuters) - Arabtec, Dubai's largestconstruction firm, said on Tuesday that it was working withauthorities in the United Arab Emirates to resolve a labourdispute and that its projects delivery schedule would not beaffected by the action. Thousands of workers have been on strike since Saturday in arare labour protest in the Gulf Arab country, which relies onmigrant labourers hired on a contract basis from South Asiancountries such as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal across anumber of areas, including construction and domestic services. ...

Units of Keppel REIT dropped more than 2 percent afterits parent, Keppel Corporation Ltd, said it would sella 6.7 percent stake in the trust for S$280 million ($223million). The price fall came after Keppel REIT marched to a5-1/2-year high of S$1.63 last week, rallying more than 20percent so far this year and outperforming a 13 percent rise inthe sector index. An analyst at a foreign brokerage said the uncertainty of anew shareholder and concerns about further stake sales by KeppelCorp weighed on the trust. Keppel REIT stood at S$1.57 per unit but still above theselling price of $1. ...

SINGAPORE, May 21 (Reuters) - Following is somecompany-related and market news which could have an impact onthe local market. ----------------------MARKET SNAPSHOT @ 0013 GMT ------------ INSTRUMENT LAST PCT CHG NET CHG S&P 500 1666.29 -0.07% -1.180 USD/JPY 102.22 -0.04% -0.040 10-YR US TSY YLD 1.9594 -- -0.005 SPOT GOLD 1387.41 -0.40% -5.630 US CRUDE 96.57 -0.14% -0.140 DOW JONES 15335.28 -0.12% -19.12 ASIA ADRS 147.88 0.62% 0. ...

The chairman of DeVry Inc., Harold Shapiro, will retire in November, at a time when the education company is struggling with shrinking U.S. enrollments. Shapiro, a former president of Princeton University ...

DUBLIN (Reuters) - The number of new mortgages issued in Ireland fell to their lowest first-quarter level since data was first collected eight years ago, further tempering hopes that house prices would begin to rebound following a devastating property crash. Irish residential property values have fallen by half since 2008 but a gradual month-by-month rise in house prices last year as well as quarterly increases in the number of mortgages being approved raised hopes that the market was recovering. ...

Here's some advice to get you on the right path.

There are a lot of things that are difficult to control when it comes to retirement. We can't control stock market returns, the meteoric rise of medical costs or the yearly increases in Social Security ...

By Ben Hirschler and Tom Bill LONDON (Reuters) - AstraZeneca is closing in on a site for its new $500 million home in Cambridge, with a biomedical park just south of the English city the most likely site, property industry sources said. Moving research and global headquarters to Cambridge, with minimal disruption, is a key test for new Chief Executive Pascal Soriot as he tries to change the drugmaker's culture and puts ground-breaking science at the centre of its activities. The move to the university city, involving nearly 2,000 jobs, is the centrepiece of a $2. ...

By Nadia Saleem DUBAI, May 20 (Reuters) - Kuwait's bourse extended sharpyear-to-date gains in heavy trading on Monday, whileprofit-taking weighed on bourses in the United Arab Emirates andother markets were mixed. Kuwait's index rose 1.3 percent to hit a fresh46-month high, trading 111 million dinars ($387.9 million). Companies owned by one of Kuwait's largest merchant familiesrose after a favourable court ruling. Kuwaiti newspaper reports said Libya will have to pay theKharafi Group $930 million in damages for former leader MuammarGaddafi's cancelling of the construction of a vacation resort. ...

* Dar Al Arkan eyeing $300 mln from sukuk sale - source * Order book in excess of $500 mln - leads * Early price talk of 5-yr sukuk at 6.25 pct * Deutsche, ENBD, Goldman Sachs among sukuk arrangers * First global bond from company since 2010 (Adds target size, dividend statement, writes through) By Mala Pancholia and David French DUBAI, May 20 (Reuters) - Saudi developer Dar Al Arkan could raise around $300 million through its firstglobal debt issue in more than three years, aiming to securefunding to capitalise on opportunities in Saudi's real estatesector. ...

Saving $1 million for retirement is a realistic goal for most workers, but it will take a considerable amount of effort to get there. And there are plenty of fees, taxes and penalties that could make it ...

Dear Dr. Don, A recent column said that a $250,000 annuity would generate a monthly payment of $2,268, which would be a return of 1.7 percent. However, I calculate that $2,268 monthly would be $27,216 ...

HONG KONG, May 20 (Reuters) - CapitaLand Ltd, thebiggest property developer in Southeast Asia, plans to raise upto $520 million in convertible bonds due 2020, according to aterm sheet of the deal seen by Reuters on Monday. The bonds were launched with a coupon of 1.375 percent to1.875 percent and an initial conversion price of S$4.901 toS$5.0895, according to the term sheet. The offering would totalup to S$650 million ($520 million), with an option to grow by anadditional S$150 million. ...

By Gerald Tay (guest contributor) The success of my overseas property investments in the last three years is due to co-investing with trustworthy foreign partners, whom themselves have decades of property investment experience in that particular country both as a local and investor. I have never bought an overseas investment property from property seminars or [...]

DUBAI, May 20 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's Dar Al Arkan RealEstate Development Co is aiming to sell abenchmark-sized Islamic bond, or sukuk, this week afterannouncing initial price thoughts for the dollar-denominateddeal, a document from lead managers said on Monday. The five-year deal is currently earmarked to price in thearea of 6.25 percent, the document said. Benchmark-sized istypically understood to be at least $500 million. Earlier, Dar Al Arkan announced to the Saudi stock exchangethat it would commence meetings with fixed income investors onMonday ahead of a possible sukuk issue. ...

DUBAI, May 20 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's Dar Al Arkan RealEstate Development Co has picked six banks to arrangeinvestor meetings ahead of a possible Islamic bond offering, thecompany said in a bourse statement on Monday. The dollar-denominated sukuk issue will be the first from aprogramme which could see several tranches offered over a12-month period to fund the company's projects, the statementsaid. Dar Al Arkan has picked Bahrain-based Bank Al Khair,Deutsche Bank, Emirates NBD, Goldman Sachs and Qatari pair Masraf Al Rayan and QInvest toarrange the meetings, it added. ...

(Repeats story originally issued on Sunday with no changes totext) * Arabtec is UAE's largest publicly listed building firm * Labour strikes rare in Gulf, especially among migrantcontractors * Strike began on Saturday, spread on Sunday By Praveen Menon DUBAI, May 19 (Reuters) - Thousands of workers employed byDubai's largest construction firm, Arabtec, stayedaway from work on Sunday to back wage demands, a rare labourprotest in the Gulf emirate, where trade unions are banned,staff said. ...

By Donny Kwok and Lavinia Mo HONG KONG (Reuters) - Armed with empty suitcases and same-day return tickets, an army of mainland Chinese is descending on suburban outlet shopping malls and international fashion chains in Hong Kong, turning cheap into the new chic as luxury falls out of favor. Wealthy Chinese used to stop over in Hong Kong for a few days to pick up a Louis Vuitton bag or a wristwatch for up to 40 percent less than in Beijing or Shanghai. ...

Following are some company-related and market news which couldhave an impact on the local market. --------------------MARKET SNAPSHOT @ 0002 GMT--------- INSTRUMENT LAST PCT CHG NET CHG S&P 500 1667.47 1.03% 17.000 USD/JPY 102.77 -0.15% -0.150 10-YR US TSY YLD 1.9559 -- 0.002 SPOT GOLD 1347.24 -0.84% -11.460 US CRUDE 95.85 -0.18% -0.170 DOW JONES 15354.40 0.80% 121.18 ASIA ADRS 146.97 1.24% 1. ...

Call it a midlife epiphany. After decades of pursuing money, titles and ever more stuff, baby boomers are coming to a big realization: Success and security just aren't enough anymore. They want something ...

By Praveen Menon DUBAI (Reuters) - Thousands of workers employed by Dubai's largest construction firm, Arabtec, stayed away from work on Sunday to back wage demands, a rare labor protest in the Gulf emirate, where trade unions are banned, staff said. Most blue collar workers in the Gulf Arab states are migrant laborers hired on a contract basis from South Asian countries such as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal, and strikes are uncommon. ...

From the relatively exotic to the seemingly mundane, certain occupations carry an underlying danger that can reach up to 117 fatalities per 100,000 workers.

0833 GMT - Abu Dhabi developers Aldar Properties and Sorouh Real Estate surge in heavy trading, in whatanalysts say is overall positive market momentum. Aldar and Sorouh shares rally 12.9 and 11.7 percentrespectively - close to their daily upward limit of 15 percent. Aldar declined to comment, while Sorouh wasn't immediatelyavailable for comment. The two firms are expected to complete their merger in June,which will result in Sorouh being delisted from the bourse. Abu Dhabi's benchmark climbs 1.4 percent to 3,562points, a fresh 52-month high. ...

1256 GMT- The kingdom's benchmark all-share index closesup 1.14 percent to 7,229.02 points, buoyed by a 9.58 percentjump for real estate company Dar al-Arkan on Saturday. Shares in heavyweight SABIC close up 0.82 percent, drivingthe petrochemicals index to close higher by 0.87percent. Shares of al-Rajhi Bank close 0.38 percent up. The bankingindex is up 0.51 percent. Last week, The Saudi Capital Market Authority (CMA) saidstocks on the kingdom's bourse would be limited to price swingsof 10 percent on their first day of trade. ...

While everyone's desired retirement goal is different, you can, with just a bit of math, come up with a rough idea of your savings goal. Here's how

By Xiaoyi Shao and Michael Martina BEIJING (Reuters) - China's housing inflation accelerated to its fastest pace in April in two years, driven by a jump in prices in Beijing and Shanghai, complicating the task of policymakers trying to cool the property sector while supporting economic expansion. Average new home prices rose 4.9 percent last month from a year ago, after a year-on-year increase of 3.6 percent in March, according to Reuters calculations from data released by the National Bureau of Statistics(NBS) on Saturday. The rise was the sharpest since April 2011. ...

BEIJING (Reuters) - Average new home prices in China's 70 major cities rose 4.9 percent in April from a year earlier, according to Reuters calculations based on official data published on Saturday, marking the fourth straight month of year-on-year increase. In month-on-month terms, prices rose 1 percent in April, easing from March's gain of 1.2 percent, it said. Rising home prices have reignited concerns about property inflation and have forced the government to launch a fresh round of measures in March to try to cool them. ...

A research report by the Pew Charitable Trusts says younger baby boomers and Generation Xers face an uncertain retirement because of reduced savings, high levels of debt, and losses during the Great Recession. ...

MILAN (Reuters) - Industrial and financial investors are in talks to buy a stake in Camfin , a holding company that controls tyremaker Pirelli , key investor Marco Tronchetti Provera said on Friday. The Italian businessman controls Pirelli, which has a market value of 4.2 billion euros (3.5 billion pounds), through a complex chain led by his MTP SpA holding vehicle and comprising two other companies, GPI and Milan-listed Camfin. ...

David Beckham's pecs are at least as much a part of his brand as his kick; his brand of shoes ultimately more lucrative than the game he's giving up. Listed as the world's highest-earning athlete for 2013, ...

The down payment is often the toughest hurdle to clear when buying a home. Whether you're opting for a Federal Housing Administration mortgage loan with just 3.5 percent down, or shooting for a conventional ...

Unless Gen Xers and late baby boomers are able to make big changes in their savings, spending and debt habits, they are on track to become the nation's first generations to fare more poorly than earlier ...

Many people think they will no longer have stress in retirement. Safely crossing the finish line into retired life is the end goal of years spent working and saving, and we deserve to leave our troubles ...

English majors get a bad rap. However, many English majors go on to become highly successful people in business, government and technology.

After David Beckham's long and distinguished soccer career ends on an artificial turf field in northwestern France, his life promises to be perhaps even more glamorous than it already has been. Nearly ...

By Laurence Fletcher LONDON (Reuters) - A booming population, fuelled by immigration, will help Britain's economy to grow more strongly than Germany's later this decade and could drive its stock market much higher, according to one of the UK's biggest equity hedge funds. Toscafund, with $1.3 billion of funds open to investment, made its bullish predictions amid signs the UK economy is starting to recover from five years of torpor brought on by the financial crisis, while the euro zone is mired in recession. ...

In the financial world, arbitrage is a trading strategy that earns profit by exploiting price differences between markets. By that definition, Dan Prescher is a sophisticated arbitrageur. The 58-year-old ...

A second career can provide opportunities whether you are worried about outliving your retirement savings, or you want to stay productive and do something meaningful later in life.

The head of the Internal Revenue Service's tax exempt/government entities division plans to retire, the IRS said on Thursday, marking the second personnel change at the agency after a scandal involving ...

Qatar's sovereign wealth fund has bought a 40-percent stake in a new 290,000-square metre skyscraper project near the centre of Milan with a commercial value of 2.0 billion euros ($2.6 billion), the companies said on Friday.

* State Grid buys 19.9 percent of SP Ausnet for A$824 mln * Buys 60 percent of energy co SPI (Australia) Assets * Deal signals Singapore retreat from Australia * Transaction could be worth over A$5 bln including debt (Recasts, adds State Grid and analyst comment) By Kevin Lim and Maggie Lu Yueyang SINGAPORE/SYDNEY, May 17 (Reuters) - State Grid Corp ofChina (SGCC), the world's largest state utility, hasagreed to buy large stakes in Australian power companies from aunit of Singapore's Temasek in a deal that could beworth over A$5 billion ($4. ...

May 17 (Reuters) - Following is a summary of research actions on South African companiesreported by Reuters on Friday. Stock entries are in alphabetical order. * Redefine Properties Ltd : HSBC raises to overweight from neutral * Redefine Properties Ltd : HSBC raises price target to 13.3 rand from 10. ...

By Tom Bill LONDON (Reuters) - Almost a quarter of commercial property loans in Britain are higher in value than the underlying real estate, a study showed on Friday, highlighting the toxic legacy of reckless lending before the financial crash. The figure grew to 23 percent at the end of 2012 from 20 percent a year earlier, according to De Montfort University, or about 45 billion pounds of a total of some 195 billion. ...

Members of Generation X are on track to replace a median of just half of their current salary in retirement. That's a far smaller proportion of income than early baby boomers (82 percent) and depression ...

By David Sheppard NEW YORK (Reuters) - Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper turned into a pitch man for TransCanada Corp's Keystone XL oil pipeline on Thursday, telling a New York audience the project is so important that Washington has to approve it. President Barack Obama is under pressure from environmental groups to veto the northern section of the proposed $5.3 billion pipeline, which would take crude from the Alberta tar sands in Western Canada to refineries in Texas. ...

Your odds of getting a return on your money are much better than winning the Powerball jackpot.

Healthcare costs put a big squeeze on retiree pocketbooks, but the grip may be relaxing a bit. A 65-year-old couple retiring this year will need $220,000 to pay for healthcare for the rest of their lives, ...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said on Thursday the facts are overwhelmingly in favor of a U.S. approval of TransCanada Corp's Keystone XL pipeline. "I think all the facts are overwhelmingly on the side of approval of this but there is a process in the United States," Harper said in New York. "I know the administration will do a thorough analysis before arriving at the right decision," he said. (Reporting by David Sheppard; Writing by Louise Egan; Editing by Doina Chiacu)

(Corrects to Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank in para 6 from Abu DhabiCommercial Properties) By Tessa Walsh and Sandrine Bradley LONDON, May 16 (Reuters) - Atlantis, The Palm, is raising an$850 million syndicated loan to refinance existing debt andprovide new funds, banking sources said on Thursday. Dubai's iconic island resort is refinancing a $700 million,12-year term loan that was signed in July 2005 and priced at 160basis points (bps) over LIBOR. That loan backed the construction of the luxury hotel resortand aquatic theme park. ...

By Jason Lange WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. economy showed fresh signs of slower growth in the second quarter, with factory activity slipping in the mid-Atlantic region while groundbreaking declined at home construction sites. Other data on Thursday showed a spike in new claims for jobless benefits last week as well as soft underlying inflation that could point to weak demand in the economy. "We are seeing a soft start for growth in the second quarter," said Sam Bullard, an economist at Wells Fargo in Charlotte, North Carolina. ...

How home buyers can make their offers more attractive in markets with relatively tight inventories of homes for sale.

Last year, I left my corporate job and rolled my 401(k) over to an IRA. This was a great decision for me because the stock market did tremendously well over that period. When you retire, you need to figure ...

If you establish these money-saving habits and patiently allow your wealth to build, you will be taking some huge steps forward in making your financial future more secure.

By Ilaina Jonas NEW YORK (Reuters) - A plan to roll the Empire State Building into a real estate investment trust is a whisker away from obtaining the necessary investor approval for a stock offering allowing the public to own a piece of the iconic skyscraper, according to a regulatory filing on Thursday. Investors holding 99.3 percent of the Empire State Building units needed to approve the plan for an initial public offering have voted for it, according to the filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. ...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Ground-breaking for new U.S. homes plummeted more than expected in April from an almost five-year high, but applications to build new homes shows the housing sector could still contribute to the strengthening economic recovery. The Commerce Department said on Thursday that starts at building sites for homes fell 16.5 percent last month to a 853,000-unit annual rate. That was below analysts' expectations of a 945,000-unit rate. ...