ABC helps enhance 12m lives in Pakistan

KARACHI: The American Business Council (ABC) members had spent more than Rs124 million on CSR activities in 2014 in Pakistan, and cumulative efforts had positively impacted above 12m lives across the country over the last three years, a press release said on Monday.

According to the council’s recently concluded first annual CSR survey, such efforts were focused predominantly on education, healthcare and on environment conservation.

5 VimpelCom brands in top 250

KARACHI: VimpelCom Ltd, a leading global provider of telecommunications services headquartered in Amsterdam, said that five of its brands have been identified among the world’s 250 most valuable telecoms brands in 2015, according to the “Brand Finance Telecoms 500” report.

VimpelCom’s Djezzy (Algeria), Beeline (Russia) and WIND (Italy) all featured among the world’s top 250 telecoms (out of the 900 assessed).

Registration of mobile accounts

KARACHI: Mobicash has announced it shall now be utilising its 55,000 strong retailer base for registration of new mobile accounts.

This first of its kind initiative enables Mobicash to have the largest number of mobile account registration locations in Pakistan and would help bridge the prevalent gap between the banked and unbanked population, says a press release.

APICORP launches $3bn sukuk programme

RIYADH: The Arab Petroleum Investments Corporation (APICORP) said Monday it has established a $3-billion Islamic sukuk programme to diversify its sources of funding and enhance links to global investors.

Sukuk is the Islamic Shariah law-compliant equivalent of bonds.

The programme marks a strategic step for APICORP, the investment company of the Organisation of the Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries, as it is set to become a regular issuer of sukuk in global markets, it said in a statement.

Chairman Abed al-Saadoun said the move “will allow APICORP to diversify its funding sources, reduce the overall cost of financing, extend the company’s debt maturity profile, and enhance our access to a diverse set of global investors.”—AFP

Published in Dawn, July 7th, 2015

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