Because of problems on the Algerian front, the fate of market bellwether Orascom Telecom Holding's (OTH) contract with VimpleCom remains uncertain. This vagueness has weighed down on the market as a whole, which ended most of last week's trading sessions in the red. Still, the market's main index EGX30 remained above the 6,800 point mark. The market will be introduced to new commodities in a few weeks' time. Head of the local bourse Khaled Serri Siam said Egypt's first exchange traded funds, namely baskets of securities that trade like individual stocks in an exchange, will be listed in a few weeks. He added the exchange is due to launch in two to four weeks an electronic surveillance system, similar to the one already used in London, to probe suspicious trading. On the macro-economic level, the government revised its gross domestic product (GDP) growth figure for the April-June quarter to 5.4 per cent from a previously announced 5.9 per cent. It also revised the growth figure for the whole year that ended on 30 June to 5.1 per cent, from a previously stated 5.3 per cent. Last month, the government said GDP is expected to grow by six per cent in the current 2010/11 fiscal year. ORASCOM TELECOM HOLDING (OTH): OTH Chief Executive Officer Naguib Sawiris will lose control of Greek Telecom business Wind Hellas after bondholders took over the company in a debt for equity swap deal. Senior secured bondholders, who were owed just over 1.2 billion euros, will inject 420 million euros into Wind Hellas and take it over. The deal will wipe out the interests of its shareholders including those of Sawiris, according to a statement by Wind Hellas's parent company Weather Finance III. Meanwhile, OTH extended its Lebanese mobile network Alfa management contract for three more months, starting next November and running through January 2011. Renewal costs hit $7.5 million, in addition to 8.5 per cent of the company's returns to cover operational costs. At the end of June this year, Alfa had 1.2 million subscribers while the average return per user reached $42.1 in the second quarter of 2010. GHABBOUR GROUP (GB AUTO): Egypt's biggest listed automobile assembler expects a 50 per cent increase in net profits during 2010 on the back of an improvement in sales, thanks to a recovery from the effects of global financial turmoil and the replacement plan for old taxis. "Consumer confidence was really shaken in late 2008 and 2009. This is behind us now and consumer confidence is back," GB Auto Chairman and CEO Raouf Ghabbour told Reuters news agency. In 2009 the company posted a net profit of LE201.4 million. Ghabbour said his firm plans to export buses starting the beginning of 2011, first to the Middle East and North Africa region, then to Europe. "In 2012, we are looking at black Africa, 2013 at Eastern Europe including Turkey, and 2014 Western Europe," he said. GB Auto manufactures, assembles, imports and distributes vehicles for Hyundai, Bajaj Auto, Mitsubishi Motors, Volvo AB and Mazda. Regarding the taxi replacement programme, which aims to scrap around 50,000 taxis by the year-end, Ghabbour said GB Auto captured a 64 per cent share of taxi replacements in September, up from 52 per cent in the beginning of the year. The company began selling vehicles in Iraq in mid-February, opening a new market in the Middle East, with sales amounting to 2,500 vehicles per month. TALAAT MUSTAFA (TMG): The group's contract with the state concerning its flagship project, Madinaty, is still making news. The legal committee advising the government on drafting a new contract for the Madinaty project recommended valuing the land at LE13.9 billion. In June, a court had ruled the contract for the sale of state land for the scheme was illegal because the land was sold without holding a public tender. Cabinet approved a plan to scrap that contract, but said it would reallocate the land to the firm under the same terms based on its right to act in the national interest and valuing it at no less than LE9.98 billion. A new contract between Ministry of Housing body the New Urban Communities Authority (NUCA) and TMG has yet to be signed. NUCA is to take seven per cent of the project's completed housing units, as in the original deal. CITADEL CAPITAL (CC): Egypt's largest private equity company said it plans two initial public offerings from its portfolio of companies in the local or regional stock markets. CC Managing Director Stephen Murphy told Bloomberg his company is seeking to raise $175 million to $250 million from each of the share sales in the next two years. Last week group chairman Ahmed Heikal said that it raised more than $3.5 billion this year between debt and equity. On another front, the group's 100 per cent owned subsidiary Finance Unlimited is in the advanced stage of studies to establish a microfinance company in Syria. Compiled by Sherine Abdel-Razek
