Egypt oks Crédit Agricole Egypt stake purchase
Egypt’s market regulator has cleared a request by France’s Crédit Agricole and Mansour and Maghraby Group to buy up to 4 percent of Crédit Agricole Egypt, the regulator said on Tuesday.
Crédit Agricole, France’s largest retail bank, and Mansour and Maghraby Group, a diversified Egyptian firm, already hold 79.02 percent of the bank, which was formed following the merger of Calyon Bank Egypt with Egyptian American Bank.
The Capital Market Authority said the request to increase the stake reflected a desire on the part of the buyers to lessen the harmful effects of the global financial crisis on trading in the bank’s shares, as well as a concern to support the share price and protect small investors.
A statement from Crédit Agricole Egypt said the decision to buy would be predicated on the suitability of available market prices.
Fitch Ratings has affirmed the credit rating of Crédit Agricole Egypt (CAE) at national longterm ‘AA+(Egy)’, national short-term ‘F1+(Egy)’ and support ‘3’. The outlook for the national longterm rating is ‘Stable’. –Reuters
Ezz Steel prices drop 4 pct
Ezz Steel lowered steel prices about 4 percent to LE 3,750 per ton in the Egyptian market in line with falling international prices, Al-Mal reported. Other steel companies fixed prices at LE 3,800 for wholesalers and LE 4,000 per ton for retailers, the paper said.
Foreign investment in hydrocarbons may slow, says minister
Foreign companies may delay making oil and gas investment decisions in Egypt because of the international financial crisis, Minister of Petroleum Sameh Fahmy told Bloomberg.
Arab and local investors will not be affected as much by the credit squeeze as foreign investors. Analysts expect annual foreign investment of $4 billion in hydrocarbon investment over the next two financial years.
To attract FDI to the hydrocarbon sector, Investment Minister Mahmoud Mohieldin said the government will exempt refineries from a decision in May 2008 that eliminated the tax exemptions and customs-free status of energy-intensive industries.
Two LE 8 bln power plants in the pipeline
Egypt will set up two power plants, one in West Cairo and the other in Al-Tebbin, at an investment cost of LE 8 billion, said Ahmed Emam, chairman of state-owned Cairo Electricity Production Company.
The National Bank of Egypt and a number of international sources will finance the plants, he added, without naming these sources. The two power plants will be operational in 2010 and add 1,400 megawatts to the national grid, according to Al-Alam Al-Youm.
Postpaid mobile product from Etisalat Misr
Etisalat Misr has launched a new postpaid mobile telephone line product, Green Line, with fixed monthly payments in three separate plans: LE 200, LE 400 and LE 600.
Subscribers receive 650 minutes under the LE 200 plan, 1,300 minutes under the LE 400 plan and 2,000 minutes under the LE 600 plan. The 200 plan allows unlimited free on-net calls to one Etisalat Misr number, while the 400 and 600 plans allow free calls to all Etisalat Misr numbers.
Green Line subscribers receive a 50 percent discount on fees for outgoing international calls. Subscribers pay a flat fee of LE 1 per minute for incoming calls while roaming abroad, the company said in a press statement.
Weather Investments increases capital to repay debt
Italian holding company Weather Investments said on Monday that its main shareholders including the Egyptian Sawiris family have agreed to increase the firm’s capital by $554 million to repay debt.
Weather, which owns a controlling stake in regional Arab mobile operator Orascom Telecom, said the fresh cash would be used to pay down debt held by Weather Capital SP1, which is one of two units holding the Orascom stake.
Funds from private equity firms Apax Partners LLP, Madison Dearborn Partners, LLC and TA Associates, Inc. will be used to repay existing debt at its subsidiary Weather Capital SP1, which is one of two vehicles owning the controlling stake in Orascom Telecom Holding.
This comes on the heels of Weather Capital SP1 debt reduction in June 2008 of $923 million, bringing the total debt reduction since June to over $1.47 billion.
Chairman and CEO Naguib Sawiris said, “We are proud to announce that even at this difficult time in the global financial markets, we continue the restructuring of our capital base and have de-leveraged the most critical component of our debt.
“These newly injected funds solidify the medium term prospects of Weather Investments and enable it to focus on its strategy of cost and expenditure optimization with margin enhancement across all our assets with the goal of maximizing free cash flow.”
Maridive posts 31 pct rise in Q3 2008
Egyptian oil support company Maridive & Oil Services posted a 31 percent rise in net profit to $69.5 million for the nine months to end-September, the firm said in a statement. The firm, which had posted profit of $53 million in the same period of 2007, attributed the growth to its success in securing short- and long-term contracts at prices 20 percent higher than in the previous year.
The firm, based in the Egyptian coastal city of Port Said, added that it had secured long-term contracts for the next two years with a value of more than $500 million. The company constructs and installs equipment for underwater oil and gas projects. It also charters vessels to move offshore rigs and ensure their safety, the company said.
Maridive owns and operates 43 vessels and 11 barges and says it generates 86 percent of its revenues outside Egypt, in areas including the Arab Gulf, the Caspian Sea, Mexico, and northern and western Africa. –Reuters
