It seems the hot weather and Ramadan fasting are depriving the market of its strength. Overall turnover is declining on daily basis amid the absence of news that might stir renewed activity. TALAAT MUSTAFA GROUP HOLDING (TMG): The company's former chairman, Hisham Talaat Mustafa, published a statement in newspapers asking the media not to repeat untrue stories about Madinaty Project. Mustafa said that Madinaty's contract is legitimate and that the company executed electricity and sewage works on its expense. The statement added that it was agreed between TMG and the Urban Communities Authority that the latter will acquire seven per cent of the buildings executed in every development stage, in order to increase its profitability from the project. The Urban Communities Authority put the price of the land in 2004 and 2005 at LE25 per square metre. SIXTH OF OCTOBER DEVELOPMENT AND INVESTMENT COMPANY (SODIC): The real estate developer will allocate $195 million to finance activities related to its newly acquired stake in Syrian real estate firm Palmyra, which is to work on a housing development site close to the Syrian capital Damascus. SODIC, Egypt's fourth largest developer by market value, bought in June a 50 per cent stake in Palmyra, a subsidiary of the MAS Group. On another front, the company firm notified the stock exchange it would buy a 4,000 square metre plot of land from the private equity firm Citadel Capital for LE36 million. SODIC sells mostly high-end residential and commercial property on the outskirts of Cairo. BELTONE FINANCIAL: The leading investment bank launched a new investment fund under the name Insight. The fund is the first in Egypt to be driven by technical analysis. The bank currently manages eight investment funds, three of which are owned by Banque Misr. Subscription in the fund opens on Sunday 29 August across the Banque Misr branch network. Beltone reported a 16 per cent surge in net profits for the first half of 2010 to reach LE5.975 billion. ORASCOM TELECOM HOLDINGS (OTH): The company's chairman, Naguib Sawiris, is said to be in talks to merge the bulk of OTH's telecommunications assets with Russian mobile- phone company VimpelCom in a transaction that could create a company valued at more than $25 billion, according to Reuters quoting two unnamed sources familiar with the matter. The new company would include Weather Investment's 51 per cent stake in Egypt's Orascom Telecom Holding and Italian mobile operator Wind. If the deal is concluded it will create an entity with a combined total mobile subscriber base of more than 200 million customers and give VimpelCom, Russia's second largest mobile phone operator, access to markets in Africa and the Middle East. It is Sawiris's second attempt this year to sell Orascom assets, after talks with South Africa's MTN Group collapsed in June. VimpelCom, headquartered in Amsterdam and listed in New York, was formed by Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman's Alfa Group and Norway's Telenor. THE EGYPTIAN COMPANY FOR MOBILE SERVICES (MOBINIL): The company's target price was lowered by two local investment banks due to weak second quarter results. CI Capital lowered the price to LE159 compared to LE174, while Beltone reduced the target to LE205.93 from LE240.25. "Though we still assume the National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (NTRA) will resolve the dials shortage in second half of this year, we cut our estimates for 2010 revenues by seven per cent, implying a four per cent year-on-year drop driven by faster average return per user decline, and slower growth in subscribers," noted a CI Capital research note on Mobinil. ORASCOM CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRIES (OCI): The company is about to launch its fourth bonds issue with a nominal LE100 per bond and a return of 11.75 per cent. OCI plans to issue the LE1.65 billion bonds in two phases. The first comprising 90 per cent of total bonds value will be in the form of a private offering, while the second tranche will be set for public offering. The company will hold an emergency general meeting to approve the bond issuance and subscription terms of the two phases that will be offered before the end of 2010. The receipts of the issue will be used in funding company expansion, future mergers and restructuring budgeting. CITADEL CAPITAL: The leading regional private equity group posted a net loss of LE95 million in the second quarter, compared with a net profit of LE11.9 million a year earlier. Citadel controls $8.3 billion in investments spanning 14 countries and is looking to expand its investments in the Middle East and East Africa. The quarter witnessed the start of operations at four Greenfield projects: Designopolis (the Middle East and Africa's first home furnishings destination under platform company Bonyan), an electrical power station in Sudan, Asec Ready Mix in Sudan and Al-Takamol Cement in Sudan. Compiled by Sherine Abdel-Razek
