The Talaat Mustafa Group (TMG) led the market up and down through the last trading sessions, from red coloured losses at the end of last week to black gains in the first three sessions of this week. Foreigners returned to be net buyers Monday after heavy selling sprees marked their transactions in the previous week, especially in real estate companies, on concern that open court cases may force developers to pay more for past land purchases. According to Reuters and Bloomberg, foreign investors became net sellers of 54.3 million shares in the three trading sessions following a ruling passed against TMG. The latter and Palm Hills, another developer that faces a legal suit on land purchases, accounted for more than a quarter of trading volume during the period. On the macroeconomic level, Minister of Investment Mahmoud Mohieldin -- soon to leave his position to his new post as the World Bank's managing director -- expected the local economy to attract $8 billion in net foreign direct investment through the current fiscal year, which is much lower than a government forecast in May for FDI of $10 billion in 2010/11. Mohieldin told Reuters that investors shouldn't be concerned about the political uncertainty created by the upcoming presidential elections, because "Egypt is a country that is based on a constitution that has very strong institutions, that has a very solid legal system." Last year the value of FDI reached $6.8 billion, representing a 14 per cent decline from the previous fiscal year. HELIOPOLIS HOUSING AND DEVELOPMENT: The Employee Shareholder Association (ESA) of the company decided to liquidate the union through distributing 78.76 per cent of its shares, representing 2,921 million shares, to workers. Some 72,800 shares of this sum will be allocated to 11 workers. ESA members agreed that the first phase of the liquidation would take place through distributing 80 per cent of the union's shares. They also agreed to offer a stake of the ESA holding in the bourse at LE19 per share. ORASCOM CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRIES (OCI): The company's shareholders approved the issue of LE1.65 billion of bonds aimed at financing possible acquisitions. While 10 per cent of the offering will be sold through the stock exchange, 90 per cent will be offered via a private placement. The company said it would use the proceeds for general corporate purposes, including capital expenditure, balance sheet restructuring, and possible acquisitions. Analysts believe that most of the latter will be in the fertiliser line of business. OCI's fertiliser production capacity amounts to five million tons of nitrogen-based fertiliser annually, planned to increase to eight million tons by 2012, including two million tonnes at its Algerian complex due to come online next year. An OCI statement quoted by Reuters said that the Middle East Rating and Investor Service (MERIS) assigned the bond an AA rating with a "stable" outlook, which implies high creditworthiness. ORASCOM TELECOM HOLDING (OTH): The company's chairman, Naguib Sawiris, told Reuters he was talking to companies other than Russia's Vimpelcom about selling some of the assets of his holding company, Weather Investments, which owns 51 per cent of OTH. Vimpelcom, Russia's third-biggest mobile phone operator, said early September it was in talks with Sawiris about a possible purchase of Weather Investment's Italian interest, Wind, and Egypt's OTH. "We don't have anything concrete to say right now on the Vimpelcom talks," Sawiris told Reuters. When asked if he was speaking to companies other than Vimpelcom, Sawiris answered in the affirmative but declined to give details, according to Reuters. He had previously told a Canadian newspaper he was open to talks with others. Sawiris said Weather Investments was also awaiting news on its bid for Greek telecoms operator Wind Hellas, which was put up for sale after it started its second debt restructuring talks in a year, to avoid missing debt repayments. The bid from Sawiris includes both fresh cash and a partial debt-for-equity swap. Although Sawiris brought Wind Hellas out of bankruptcy less than 12 months ago, it's now under the control of creditors after the company deferred a 17.5 million-Euro ($23 million) interest payment on its 250 million Euro revolving credit facility in June. It also missed a 23 million Euro coupon payment on its 1.2 billion Euros of floating-rate notes. On a different front, OTH contested the Burundi government decision to levy on its African business concern Telecel Globe a fine of $11 million in overdue taxes of the same sum. OTH's objection came after the Burundi Tax Authority rejected its request of reconsidering taxes and fines, adding that it sent an official letter to the Ministry of Finance in Burundi to request cancellation of or reducing fines in light of OTH's lower than projected revenues. GHABBOUR GROUP (GB AUTO): Sales of the company, Egypt's largest car assembler and distributor, during July recorded a 17 per cent increase compared to the same month of 2009, according to the monthly report of the Automotive Marketing Information Council (AMIC). The number of cars sold reached 18,411 units thanks to the seasonal revival of passenger market sales during summer. GB Auto is the sole distributor of Hyundai and Mazda cars in Egypt. On a separate note, Beltone Financial set GB Auto's fair value to LE45 per share from LE53 per share, 15.7 per cent above its market price of LE38.8 per share. The reduction, according to Beltone, accounts for lower than expected passenger car revenues mainly due to lowering prices in Iraq and reduced estimates for Mazda sales in Egypt. This is added to lower than expected commercial vehicle revenues from low trailer sales. Beltone said the shares increased by 57.8 per cent since the beginning of the year compared to a 3.2 per cent increase in the main market index, the EGX 30. Compiled by Sherine Abdel-Razek
