If you think Auckland house prices are high, try living in London. Average London house price hits 500,000 pounds United Kingdom, housing

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. ...

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. ...

May 20 (Reuters) - The following corporate finance-relatedstories were reported by media on Monday. * Greece's second-largest lender Piraeus Bank SA has hired four international investment banks as advisers on its7.33-billion-euro ($9.4 billion) share issue, two bankers closeto the procedure told Reuters on Saturday. * Yahoo Inc's board has approved a deal to buyblogging and social networking site Tumblr for $1.1 billion incash, the Wall Street Journal cited people familiar with thematter as saying on Sunday. ...

(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 Paul McBeth May 20 (BusinessDesk) - The government is aiming to cool housing inflation, seen as a threat to New Zealand's financial stability, while speeding up consents as part of a plan to encourage ...

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. ...

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. ...

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. ...

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. ...

One person has died after a home in Rangataua caught fire.

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. ...

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 ...

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. ...

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. ...

Queenstown-based real estate company New Zealand Sotheby’s International Realty has launched a luxury rental homes division in an expansion of the services it offers in the resort town. The initiative, which officially launches this month (May), was initially created to offer the company’s clients properties to rent while they were in Queenstown viewing potential properties to buy. ...

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. ...

The Budget’s projection that house prices will rise between 23 percent and 46 percent by 2017 exposes the National Government’s lack of action on affordable housing, Green Party Co-leader Metiria Turei said today. Figures in the Budget Economic and Fiscal Update show house prices rising above the rate of general inflation throughout the forecast period. In the ‘main forecasts’ scenario, house prices will rise a cumulative 23.4 percent between the start of this fiscal year and June 2017. In the ‘upside scenario’, the cumulative rise in house prices over the same period is 45.6 percent. ...

National’s plan to tinker with land supply is an epic fail in the eyes of tens of thousands of New Zealanders desperately trying to buy their first home, says Labour Leader David Shearer. "Fiddling with land supply is all well and good but it won’t help first-time buyers reach their dream of home ownership. Some land may be freed up in Auckland, but it’s inevitable that developers will build more expensive homes on it rather than affordable starter houses. "House prices have gone up in Auckland by 36% since National came into office. ...

Disappointment there's not more support in the Budget for property owners who want to earthquake-strengthen their buildings. Budget leaves property owners disappointed Budget

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. ...

The Government's being criticised for not doing enough to solve the housing crisis in this year's Budget. Opposition goes on offensive over housing Budget, housing

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.

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. ...

LONDON (Reuters) - British housebuilder Bovis Homes said sales rates and prices were beating management's expectations, becoming the latest in a string of firms in the industry to have seen trading improve on the back of government schemes to help buyers. The company said it received 989 private net reservations in the 19 weeks to 10 May, 26 percent higher than the same period last year, helped also by a rise in the number of its sales outlets. The number of visitors to its sites rose 29 percent in the year to date compared to the same period last year. ...

Asian non-financial corporates (ex-Japan) For the full text of this story please click the followinglink: http://v3.moodys.com/page/viewresearchdoc.aspx?docid=PR_273260&WT.mc_id=NLTITLE_YYYYMMDD_PR_273260

(Reuters) - Building materials supplier SIG Plc said challenging markets and harsh winter in Europe in January-April have hurt first-half performance and added that it did not expect to recover the shortfall in sales in the remaining two months. SIG, which operates in the UK and several countries in mainland Europe, said group sales per day from continuing operations fell about 4 percent in constant currency for January-April from a year earlier. ...

By Greg Roumeliotis NEW YORK (Reuters) - Alternative asset managers such as Blackstone Group LP and KKR & Co LP have for decades scoured the stock market for undervalued companies. Now they are trying to convince investors that shares in their own firms are a bargain. As a group, their valuations tend to be weighed down by at least three factors. Because they have gone public relatively recently, their track record as public companies is relatively short. The presentation of their results is complicated and makes comparisons difficult. ...

REUTERS - DLF Ltd, India's biggest real estate company by market value, has priced its $345 million share issue at 230 rupees each, it said in a statement late on Wednesday. The company had launched the issue on Tuesday and set a price band of 222 rupees to 233 rupees. The offer was fully covered on the day of the launch. DLF, 78.58 percent owned by its founders, is selling shares to meet the market regulator's requirement of having at least 25 percent public shareholding, which is mandatory for Indian listed companies. Shares in DLF, valued by the market at $7.5 billion, closed at 241. ...

All Housing New Zealand tenancies will be reviewed to ensure state housing is focused on people with the highest housing need, Housing Minister Nick Smith says. "The Government will this year develop pathways for New Zealanders in social housing to regain independence and self-sufficiency as their individual circumstances permit and as alternatives allow," he says. "Reviewable tenancies, which currently apply to some tenants, will then be extended progressively to all social housing tenants. ...

The Government is to develop a Housing Warrant of Fitness system and trial it on Housing New Zealand properties, Housing Minister Nick Smith says. "There are real gains for the health, safety, and welfare of New Zealanders, particularly children and the elderly, from having a better standard of housing," he says. "This year, the Government is going to develop a Warrant of Fitness with the support of a Rental Housing Standards Forum. "The Government needs to first get its own house in order. ...

Budget 2013 contains an ambitious and comprehensive package of measures aimed at making houses more affordable and improving access to social housing, Finance Minister Bill English and Housing Minister Nick Smith say. "Too many New Zealanders have to spend too much of their incomes on housing, and that’s bad for them and for the economy," Mr English says. "High housing costs contribute to New Zealand’s indebtedness and create growing demand for state housing assistance. In addition, rising house prices affect financial stability and put pressure on interest rates and the exchange rate. ...

New agreements between the government and councils will cut housing construction delays, with new powers for the government to intervene.

By Peg Mackey and Alex Lawler LONDON (Reuters) - A European investigation into alleged price rigging by major oil companies has drawn attention to leading price agency Platts and the way it sets oil price benchmarks. Authorities on Tuesday carried out a surprise inspection at Platts' London bureau as well as the offices of Royal Dutch Shell , BP and Statoil . Officials were searching for evidence that the firms had distorted prices reported to Platts in an attempt to influence the cost of oil. The move follows more scrutiny of financial benchmarks by authorities since the Libor rigging ...

CAIRO, May 15 (Reuters) - Egypt said on Wednesday it hadsettled disputes with the Dubai-based developer DAMAC involvingprojects dating back to the Mubarak era - an agreement thegovernment hopes will reassure prospective investors. The government said the settlement covered three disputes:two involving housing projects near Cairo and the thirdinvolving a piece of land on the Red Sea. It said the deal meantDAMAC would withdraw a suit against Egypt filed with theInternational Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes inWashington. ...

By William James and Dmitry Zhdannikov LONDON (Reuters) - Oil companies will face the full force of the law if they manipulated prices, Britain's energy minister said on Wednesday as a rating agency warned of massive fines if a European Commission's probe into oil pricing found any wrongdoing. Oil firm Eni said the European Commission had asked it to provide information, although it was not being probed. The Italian company's statement came a day after the offices of Shell, BP and Statoil were raided by investigators over suspected oil price manipulation. ...

By Andrea Hopkins TORONTO (Reuters) - Canadian home sales rose in April, the second straight monthly gain, as spring homebuying breathed life back into the slowing real estate sector and bolstered hopes Canada will manage a soft landing rather than a U.S.-style housing crash. Sales of existing homes climbed 0.6 percent in April from March, but year-over-year sales were down 3.1 percent, the Canadian Real Estate Association said on Wednesday in a report that showed a spring bounce in a housing sector that had been slowing since the middle of 2012. ...

TORONTO (Reuters) - Sales of existing homes in Canada rose in April from March but year-over-year sales fell, the Canadian Real Estate Association said on Wednesday in a report that showed a small spring bounce in what is an otherwise slowing housing sector. The industry group for Canadian real estate agents said sales activity was up 0.6 percent in April from the month before. Actual sales for April, not seasonally adjusted, were down 3.1 percent from a year earlier. CREA's home price index rose 2.2 percent in April from a year earlier, its smallest gain in more than two years. ...

PORT LOUIS (Reuters) - Mauritius-based conglomerate Rogers' first-half pretax profit soared to 1.96 billion rupees from 135.7 million a year ago due to an exceptional item and improved performance in property prices, the firm said on Wednesday. Analysts said the rise was due to the reclassification of land for construction of villas to investment property and the inclusion of a stake in luxury hotels group New Mauritius Hotels in Rogers accounts. Earnings per share rose to 17.26 rupees from 11.63 rupees. Rogers stock closed higher at 189 rupees from 182.25 rupees on Tuesday.

SINGAPORE, May 15 (Reuters) - New private home sales inSingapore more than halved in April from the previous month,indicating that March's record number was a one-off spike ratherthan a sustained surge in demand. Singapore has been trying to cool its housing market, fueledby near record-low interest rates and an influx of foreigners. Developers sold 1,375 homes in April, according to UrbanRedevelopment Authority (URA) data, down from 2,793 units in thepreceding month which was the highest figure since Singaporebegan publishing monthly figures. ...

DUBAI, May 15 (Reuters) - Dubai developer Union Properties reported a 2.2 percent drop in first-quarter netprofit on Wednesday due to a slump in housing sales. The Dubai-listed firm made a first quarter net profit of 21.9 million dirhams ($5.96 million), it said in a boursestatement, slightly lower than 22.4 million dirhams it posted inthe corresponding period last year. Revenue from sales of homes and property management plungedto 25.8 million dirhams from 159.8 million dirhams in theprior-year period. However expenses reduced to 24.6 million dirhams from 35. ...

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China's land ministry has issued an emergency notice calling for an end to forced, illegal land requisitions, the state-run People's Daily reported on Wednesday, stepping up efforts to defuse one of the biggest sources of public protest in China. The Ministry of Land Resources issued the notice in reaction to what the newspaper, the ruling Communist Party official publication, said had been a spate of violent land grabs. It called on regional authorities to re-examine and standardise land acquisition procedures. ...

The International Monetary Fund says NZ's housing market is overvauled by around 25 per cent and may prompt an interest rate rise.

New Zealand housing is already overvalued by about 25 percent and if it continues to rise may force the Reserve Bank to hike interest rates, according to the International Monetary Fund.

(Reuters) - J.C. Penney Co Inc's stores, distribution centers and headquarters are worth a total of $4.06 billion, according to an appraisal conducted for the department store chain and disclosed on Tuesday in a presentation to potential lenders that was also filed with U.S. regulators. The 306 stores Penney owns and the 123 locations for which it has ground leases are worth $3.3 billion, according to an appraisal by Cushman & Wakefield. That is less than the $5.9 billion a Morgan Stanley research note last week estimated they were worth. Penney has 1,102 stores in all, the others being ...

A housing expert says a Government attempt to improve state housing is welcome, but it should not have taken this long to establish. State house plan too little, too late State housing, Nick Smith, Housing Minister, University of Otago, Philippa Howden-Chapman, affordable housing

By Nadia Saleem DUBAI, May 14 (Reuters) - Markets in the United ArabEmirates hit new multi-year highs on Tuesday, delaying anexpected bout of profit-taking as upbeat earnings added fuel tothe bullish sentiment, while Saudi Arabia and Egypt fell. In Dubai, banks rallied. Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB)rose 5.8 percent, extending year-to-date gains to 54.7 percent.The bank completed a share swap acquisition of mortgage lenderTamweel in which it provided 10 new shares in the bankfor every 18 held in Tamweel, it said earlier this week. ...

By Andrea Hopkins TORONTO (Reuters) - Canadian home prices rose in April from March as three strong cities in Western Canada more than offset weak showings elsewhere, while the annual gain in prices slowed, the Teranet-National Bank Composite House Price Index showed on Tuesday. The index, which measures price changes for repeat sales of single-family homes, showed overall prices rose 0.2 percent in April from a month earlier, but the weakest April gain in 15 years except for the 2009 recession. The index was up 2.0 percent from a year earlier, the smallest 12-month gain since November 2009. ...

* Non-oil trade rises to 325.5 bln dirhams in Q1 * Property sector pick-up seen helping trade grow * Trade with Iran continues to slump - customs chief By Martin Dokoupil DUBAI, May 14 (Reuters) - Dubai's non-oil trade jumped 16percent in the first quarter and recovery in the emirate'sproperty sector will help keep the pace up this year despite aplunge in trade with Iran and global economic weakness, theDubai customs head said on Tuesday. ...

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Commerzbank is in intensive talks to divest the bulk of its 5.7 billion euros (4.8 billion pounds) in British property loans, Germany's second biggest lender said in the prospectus of its capital increase published on Tuesday. Commerzbank wants to sell the portfolio to private equity investor Lone Star and U.S. bank Wells Fargo , a source familiar with the transaction had said last month. ...

DUBAI, May 14 (Reuters) - Dubai's non-oil trade jumped 16percent in the first quarter and recovery in the emirate'sproperty sector will help keep the pace up this year, the Dubaicustoms head told Reuters on Tuesday. Dubai's total non-oil trade grew to 325.5 billion dirhams($88.6 billion) in the first quarter from 280 billion in thesame period of 2012. (Reporting by Martin Dokoupil; Editing by Hugh Lawson)

MUMBAI (Reuters) - An 18.9 billion rupee ($345 million) share sale in India's biggest real estate company by market value, DLF Ltd, was fully covered on Tuesday, provisional data from the Bombay Stock Exchange showed. By 4:30 p.m., the single-day sale to institutional investors had received bids for 87.14 million shares. DLF had set a price band of 222 rupees to 233 rupees each for the offer. DLF, 78.58 percent owned by its founders, is selling shares to meet the market regulator's requirement of having at least 25 percent public shareholding, which is mandatory for Indian listed companies. ...

DUBAI, May 14 (Reuters) - The chief executive of Dubaicontractor Drake and Scull has no plans to sell hisstake in the company, he said on Tuesday, but there will be morepartnerships on projects with builder Arabtec. Drake, which specialises in mechanical, engineering andplumbing (MEP), has seen its shares jump 35 percent year-to-dateon growing speculation that it was a takeover target, withArabtec viewed by analysts as a possible buyer. Arabtec is on an expansion drive after a management shake-upled by Abu Dhabi state fund Aabar, its largest shareholder. ...

CAIRO, May 14 (Reuters) - Egyptian property developer TalaatMoustafa Group (TMG) said net profit in the firstquarter of 2013 fell 19.8 percent to 139.4 million Egyptianpounds ($20 million). TMG's profit for the first quarter of 2012 was 173.7 millionpounds, the firm said in a statement published by the stockexchange on Tuesday.($1 = 6.9645 Egyptian pounds) (Reporting by Shaimaa Fayed; Editing by Helen Massy-Beresford)