The local bourse regained strength during the first sessions of this week to end Tuesday hovering around the 6,000-point threshold, maintaining an upward trend for six consecutive sessions. The relative strength was inspired and triggered by a leap in the performance of American and European markets on the back of better than expected second quarter results by heavyweights like Goldman Sachs and Chase Manhattan. The average value of daily transactions was better than early July, at around LE900 million. News on the macroeconomic level was scant through the week. While Suez Canal revenues dropped by 26 per cent in June 2009 compared to levels a year earlier, reaching LE348.2 million, they were the highest monthly receipts this year. ORASCOM TELECOM (OT): The international mobile operator made headlines through the week. Its dispute with France Telecom took a new chapter with the Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority rejecting the tender offer by Orange Participations, totally owned by France Telecom, to buy up to 100 per cent of the Egyptian Company for Mobile Services, also known as Mobinil. According to the authority, "the offer violated the principle of giving equal opportunity to all shareholders." Naguib Sawiris, OT's chairman, was quoted in the French Le Figaro as saying that his company is keen to invest in France and is ready to team up for a fourth domestic 3G mobile phone licence there. A day later, Sawiris told an Italian newspaper that he is still planning to sell shares in Weather Investments, the holding company that controls Wind, Italy's third biggest wireless operator on the Milan Stock Exchange. On another front, the competition over OT's Internet subsidiary, Linkdotnet, is getting fiercer with three mobile operators, Mobinil, Vodafone Egypt (VFE) and Etisalat Misr together with Telecom Egypt considering bidding for the company. The idea of selling the company was raised six months ago, but the dispute between OT and France Telecom over Mobinil shares postponed the sale, Dow Jones newswire quoted a source from Linkdotnet as saying. GHABOUR AUTO (GB AUTO): The automaker has secured $20 million from J P Morgan to finance foreign operations. The loan will be used in financing imports from South Korea, where Hyundai, GB Auto's supplier is located. The terms of the loan are yet to be announced. The company posted a 91.5 per cent slump in net earnings to LE7.2 million in the first quarter of 2009 compared to LE84.6 million in the corresponding period of 2008. TELECOM EGYPT (TE): Egypt's fixed line operator announced that it intends to establish a new holding company to execute the operator's future potential acquisitions. The plan of the new company will be discussed at TE's general assembly meeting on Wednesday, 29 July. The meeting will also elect 11 new members for its board of directors. On a related note, Vice-President and Chief Financial Officer Tarek Tantawy has withdrawn his resignation a month after it was announced that Tantawy had resigned effective 13 August 2009 to pursue another career. ORASCOM DEVELOPMENT HOLDING (ODH): The company listed in both the Swiss and Cairo stock exchanges has acquired final approval to start the construction of its Andenermatt project in Switzerland. The work should start before the end of 2009 and will continue into 2013. The project includes five hotels, offering 844 guest rooms, in addition to a residential component offering 490 apartments. PIONEERS HOLDING: The investment bank's bid to buy a majority stake in Standard Securities was unanimously rejected by the latter's board. The Cairo-based Standard Securities, a prominent brokerage, sent a note to the Cairo Stock Exchange saying that the offer was dismissed. Compiled by Sherine Abdel-Razek
