CHRONOLOGY-Major acquisitions by Gulf Arab investors http://today.reuters.com/investing/financeArticle.aspx?type=bondsNews&storyID=2006-06-02T002058Z_01_N01399117_RTRIDST_0_GULF-ACQUISITIONS-CHRONOLOGY.XML
Thu Jun 1, 2006
June 1 (Reuters) - Emaar Properties (EMAR.DU: Quote, Profile, Research), the United Arab Emirates' largest listed company, said it bought privately held U.S. homebuilder John Laing Homes for $1.05 billion of cash on Thursday.
The following is a chronology of some investments and bids by Gulf Arab investors armed with vast quantities of oil cash:
* October 2004 - British water utility South Staffordshire agrees to a 143 million pound takeover by Bahrain's First Islamic Investment Bank.
* December 2004 - State-owned Dubai Ports pays $1.15 billion for the global port assets of U.S.-based CSX Corp. (CSX.N: Quote, Profile, Research), outbidding the world's two biggest container port operators.
* January 2005 - The government of Dubai buys a $1 billion stake in DaimlerChrysler AG (DCXGn.DE: Quote, Profile, Research), becoming the auto maker's third-largest shareholder. The purchase was made through the government's Dubai Holding company.
* March 2005 - Tussauds Group, owner of the famous waxwork museums, is sold for 800 million pounds to a private equity firm owned by the government of Dubai.
* July 2005 - Mediobanca agrees to sell 5 percent of Ferrari to an investment firm owned by the Abu Dhabi government, the Mubadala Development Co., for 114 million euros.
* July 2005 - A venture led by Saudi Oger Telecom wins the tender for a 55 percent stake in fixed-line operator Turk Telekom, offering $6.55 billion in the biggest Turkish privatisation deal to date.
* August 2005 - Dubai's Dubal, owner and operator of the largest aluminium smelter in the Western world, says it will take a 25 percent stake in Canada's Global Alumina Corp.
* October 2005 - Dubai investment house Istithmar PJSC says it has acquired London office building One Trafalgar Square for 155 million pounds.
* November 2005 - Istithmar says it has bought New York property 230 Park Avenue for $705 million.
* November 2005 - Dubai-owned Tussauds Group says it is buying British Airways Plc's stake in the London Eye to give it majority control of the city's most popular tourist attraction.
* November 2005 - Dubai Ports World agrees to pay 3.3 billion pounds in cash for P&O, the 165-year-old British maritime icon, to create the world's third-largest ports company.
* December 2005 - Dubai International Capital has agreed to buy UK engineering company Doncasters Group from Royal Bank of Scotland's equity finance business for $1.23 billion.
* December 2005 - Qatar's Supreme Council for Economic Affairs and Investment buys more than 96 percent of Lebanon's BLC Bank for $236.3 million.
* January 2006 - Istithmar buys Inchcape Shipping Services for $285 million from Electra Investment Trust.
* January 2006 - Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal and Colony Capital agree to pay $3.9 billion for Canada's Fairmont Hotels & Resorts Inc (FHR.TO: Quote, Profile, Research), trumping an offer by billionaire investor Carl Icahn.
* February 2006 - P&O shareholders approve Dubai Ports World 3.9 billion pound cash bid after a bidding war with Singapore ports operator PSA.
* February 2006 - UAE's Istithmar reports that, through $2 billion in participation notes issued by UBS AG, it controls 2.39 percent of Time Warner Inc.'s (TWX.N: Quote, Profile, Research) stock.
* June 2006 - UAE's Emaar Properties says it buys John Laing Homes, the second-largest privately held U.S. homebuilder, for $1.05 billion of cash.
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