The market continued fluctuating during the week ending on 22 June, with mixed activities by foreign and Arab investors. Foreigners were net buyers, unlike Arab investors who sold heavily. The CASE 30 index ended the week 1.5 per cent higher than before, and institutional investors counted for 51 per cent of the overall transactions since individual investors showed low confidence. This was offset by an overall positive sentiment at news that a new money maker fund was created by the National Bank of Egypt to support the market. EGYPTIAN AMERICAN BANK (EAB): The final steps of the complete merger between EAB and Calyon Egypt are underway, and when it is final each EAB shareholder will get 3.65 of Calyon Egypt shares. An EAB share is valued at LE51.68, while that of Calyon Egypt is LE14.15. According to the contract, Calyon bank will assume the LE287 .7 million deficit resulting from liquidating EAB's employee fund. Calyon Egypt, together with Al-Mansour and Al-Maghraby, has offered LE50 for each share of EAB inclusive of LE5 to cover the Employee Fund deficit. ARAB COTTON GINNING (ACG): The company denied rumours that it is postponing listing its new capital increase equity, in order not to depress share prices. The company asserted that the delay is due to the long procedures and required documents by the Capital Market Authority. ACG has increased its capital from LE462.9 million to LE925.8 million to finance its expansionary plans; its share ended the week at LE7.56, which is 16.3 points lower than the previous week. AMOUN PHARMACEUTICALS: Trading on the pharmaceutical company's shares were suspended during one of last week's trading sessions as a result of rumours that a majority stake of the company will be sold to a foreign group. Amoun confirmed that negotiations have been going on for a month between Sarwat Bassily, the owner and founder of Amoun, and an international consortium to buy Bassily's 93 per cent share in the company. The consortium includes the Capital International Private Equity Fund, Citi Group Venture Capital International and Concord International of New York. While the deal is pending the approval of authorities, newspaper reports said that it would be executed at a price of between LE47 to LE52.5 per share. Amoun is one of the leading private pharmaceutical companies in Egypt with a market share of 4.62 per cent. It was the first private pharmaceutical company founded in Egypt in the 1970s to import and distribute drugs, and later expanded its activities to include the manufacturing of drugs. However, over the past year the company has suffered from lack of liquidity due to the government's obligatory pricing policy, which prevents drug companies from increasing prices to reflect spiraling costs. EFG-HERMES: The group maintained its position as the market's main mover, cornering 25 per cent of the market's overall transactions. Egypt's leading investment bank has not yet started purchasing the treasury stocks it announced it will be re-buying during a one month period ending on 16 July. The group's CEO Hassan Heikal decided to temporarily assume the responsibilities of the company's UAE branch as a step towards supporting the Gulf branch's potential. After entering the Saudi and UAE markets, EFG-Hermes is planning to expand its activities to include Lebanon. ALEXANDRIA FOR MINERAL OILS (AMOC): The sale of a 50 per cent stake in the company is facing problems, because 100 Shura Council members submitted a report to Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif expressing their reservations and asking him to halt the sale. Those opposing the deal believe that as a profit making company -- realising LE800 million in profits last year -- AMOC should not be sold. Some 13 international and local companies have expressed their interest in buying the offered stake. Compiled by Sherine Abdel-Razek
