The market digested the effect of the escalating conflict in Lebanon during most of the trading sessions of last week. An obvious buying interest from individuals, both local and foreign, supported the market and pushed the CASE 30 by 3.1 per cent during the week. The overall turnover came at LE5.9 billion, with foreigners as net buyers. Meanwhile, the Cairo and Alexandria Stock Exchange reformulated the constituents of CASE 30, removing a number of heavyweights like Vodafone Egypt and Ezz Dekheila. It cited the low trading volume on those companies' shares during the last three months as the reason for the change. Companies included in the index must have at least a 15 per cent stake free floated. Moreover, none of the companies which currently have a five per cent ceiling on daily price fluctuations have succeeded in meeting the criteria for companies with a 20 per cent ceiling. The latter have to be traded for at least 220 days a year, in addition to being committed to certain disclosure criteria. COMMERCIAL INTERATIONAL BANK (CIB): In addition to being shortlisted to bid for Bank of Alexandria, CIB released its results for the first half of 2006. CIB net profit for the six- months period ending June came at LE387.4 million, which is 37 per cent higher than that of the corresponding period last year. The bank's provisions came at LE135.7 million, down from LE171.0 million in the first half of 2005. EFG HERMES: Egypt's leading investment bank had one of its best ever weeks in six months. Transactions on the company's shares alone amounted to LE2.6 billion, and closed 37.2 per cent higher at LE38.22 per share. News related to the company included the resignation of Mohamed Taymour from the company's board of directors, in order to concentrate on running a new family business. Also, Chairman Yasser Mallawany stated that shareholders will be asked to attend the extraordinary general assembly at the end of August, to approve Abraaj's offer to acquire a stake in the company through a capital increase. THE EGYPTIAN KUWAITI HOLDING COMPANY (EKHC): The company denied media reports that it had received an $80 million loan from a consortium of four banks. Reports said that the company would use the loan (from the Arab African Bank, Delta Bank, Bank of Suez and an unnamed public sector bank) to buy stakes in public companies like AMOC. ALEXANDRIA MINERALS OIL COMPANY (AMOC): Observers and interested investors are awaiting the National Bank of Egypt's (NBE) official offering of 50 per cent of AMOC's capital, since the 45 day period designated for due diligence ended on 25 July. As soon as NBE revealed its intention to sell the stake, some 13 local and foreign consortia submitted letters of intention to the Ministry of Investment. AMOC witnessed a 52 per cent increase in sales during 2005 as a result of the hike in oil prices. DELTA INTERNATIONAL BANK (DIB): A consortium, led by Bahrain's Al-Ahli United Bank, is offering to buy 100 per cent of DIB. The consortium also includes Qatar's Al-Ahli Bank, Bank of Kuwait and the Middle East, as well as Wafra International Investments and Strategic Investments. On 30 July, DIB announced that shareholders with a combined holding of 80.9 per cent agreed to sell their stake to Al-Ahli United Bank at LE37 per share. BANK OF ALEXANDRIA (BOA): The Central Bank of Egypt announced the shortlist of bidders for a minimum 75 per cent stake in BOA. The list included six consortia of several foreign and Arab banks, which now have the right to perform a due diligence study of BOA ahead of submitting technical and financial offers. Bidders include Egypt's Commercial International Bank, a consortium of the Jordan-based Arab Bank Group and Arab National Bank (Saudi Arabia's fifth largest commercial bank), the Dubai-based Mashreq Bank and Dubai Investment Group consortium, while the other three consortia are led by France's BNP Paribas, Italy's Sanpaolo IMI and Greece's EFG Eurobank.
