DOHA: Ireland-based international engineering services provider Byrne Looby Partners has announced a joint venture partnership with Asco Consulting Engineers.
With Asco’s 40 years’ experience and licence as a Grade A engineering consultancy in Qatar, the move marks an essential part of Byrne Looby Partners’ growth in the Middle East, resulting in a significant increase of its workforce in both Ireland and the GCC region.
Byrne Looby Partners specialises in delivering solutions for the water, marine, infrastructure and energy sectors. The firm entered the Qatari market two years ago and designed some of the largest tunnelling projects in the country.
“Through our joint venture with ASCO, we have created some solid revenue streams for 2014, we have grown the team and added new skills, and we have won world class projects for international agencies in new areas. We are looking forward to a long and fruitful relationship that will allow our Irish engineering expertise, together with our local technical excellence, to assist in the development of Qatar and its 2030 Vision,’’ said Sam Murdock, Water Director, Byrne Looby Partners.
Portugal set for bond issue on road to bailout exit
LISBON: Portugal, rescued with EU and IMF bailout funding, is set to borrow on capital markets in the next few days, seizing the opportunity of the lowest interest rates on its debt since May, analysts said yesterday.
“This is the right moment to test the appetite of investors for Portuguese debt, with improving prospects for growth and a better situation for the budget,” an analyst at Dif Broker Pedro Lino said.
The newspaper Diario Economico reported that Portugal could launch a five-year syndicated loan this week.
Under such a procedure, the government would raise funds directly from a few selected banks, thereby reducing the risks of trying to borrow on the open sovereign debt market.
The newspaper reported that the government considered that given the current market yield on Portuguese bonds, the country could go to the market immediately.
At Royal Bank of Scotland, analyst Harvinder Sian commented: “Portugal does not want to wait long and could announce a bond issue this week.”
But some experts, including Lino, held that Portugal would wait first to see the outcome of bond issues by Ireland, which has just emerged from a bailout, and by Spain due this week. They would also wait for a report due on Friday on the outlook for Portugal by credit rating agency Moody’s.
The Peninsula/AFP
