The CASE30 lost 1.6 per cent through the week amid a profit-taking spree. The value of transactions however came high at LE7 billion with Thursday, the last trading day in the week and the fiscal year 2006-07 alone witnessing LE3 billion in transactions. Many funds were liquidating their holdings before the end of the fiscal year resulting in many large transactions. The sale of 36 million shares of Sidi Krir Petrochemicals was just one of many. The state Information Decision and Support Centre's latest figures showed that foreign investments in the stock market reached $2.76 billion in the fiscal year ending June 2006. This is equivalent to 31 per cent of the overall FDI in Egypt during the same period. New securities worth LE98.7 billion were issued in 2006, up from LE65 billion in 2005. The regulatory framework governing the market has witnessed some changes as well. The Capital Market Authority's board of directors has approved amendments governing setting up and managing investment funds. Under the amendments, a majority of members on a fund's board of directors will have to be independent individuals, a change designed to protect shareholders. The minimum amount of securities that an investment fund can issue increased to 200 times its capital from the current 10 times. ORASCOM TELECOM HOLDINGS (OTH): The company purchased an 11.3 per cent minority stake in its Pakistani subsidiary Mobilink which means it is now 100 per cent owned by OTH. The latter paid $290 million for the stake that will be financed by the sale of its $750 million bond offering in February. A company statement quoted OTH's Chairman Naguib Sawiris as saying that the move reflects OTH's strategy to consolidate its ownership in its subsidiaries. In another development, an international arbitration panel decided in favour of OTH in its arbitration case against Chad's fixed-line operator Sotel Tchad. The panel awarded OTH undisclosed financial compensation. OTH resorted to international arbitration after Chad's Ministry of Telecommunications invalidated the transfer of 51 per cent of Tchad Mobile shares to OTH, cancelling an agreement signed in late 2002 by Sotel Tchad and OTH. ORASCOM CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRIES (OCI) has awarded the German Uhde GmbH a $1.8 billion contract to design, develop and construct a fertiliser complex in the Algerian industrial zone Arzew on the Mediterranean coast. The plant is a joint venture between OCI and the Algerian state- owned oil group Sonatrach. The complex, which lies near three major Algerian ports includes an ammonia and urea production unit with an annual capacity of 1.1 million tons to start production by the end of 2010 and a 0.77 million ton- per-year ammonia production unit. That was not all for the construction, cement and fertilisers group as the Syrian Cement Company, 75 per cent owned by OCI, awarded a contract to a consortium of F L Smidth and OCI to build a greenfield cement plant in northern Syria with a three million ton- per-year production capacity. OCI and Syrian businessman Ferras Tellas established the Syrian Cement Company on 2 May. EGYPTIAN ARAB LAND BANK: The bank is preparing to offer LE750 million mortgage backed bonds. The callable, non-convertible offering has a maturity after 10 years and is issued at a face value of LE1,000. The offering is backed by mortgage loans that are worth LE893 million and is guaranteed by the Ministry of Finance. Market observers welcome the move that would support the growth of the fledging mortgage market and help supply the long-term financing needed to support it. NATIONAL BANK FOR DEVELOPMENT: The bank is again a buy-out target. After last year's acquisition of 49 per cent of its capital by Abu Dhabi Islamic bank (ADIB), the latter and its parent company Emirate International Company offered to buy the remaining stake for LE11 per share. The government owns 17 per cent of the bank. The offer is valid for 20 days from 27 June to 25 July. Last year ADIB offered to buy 52.8 per cent of NBD but the government back then said it would not permit the sale of a majority stake in NBD. The bank has a good record in financing small- and medium-sized companies and has an Islamic banking licence. EXPORT DEVELOPMENT BANK OF EGYPT (EDBE): The bank's general assembly meeting approved its new fiscal year budget plan aiming at a net income of LE278 million and a net profit of LE250 million through fiscal year 2007/2008. Moreover, it expects to increase its total assets to LE10.4 billion from LE8.4 billion as of 31 March 2007. The management announced that the bank finalised ownership registration of a 17,600 square metre piece of land in Nasr City which the bank previously acquired, though it has nothing planned so far with regards to utilising this land. AL-SEWEDY CABLES established a joint venture with Glencore International to produce pure copper at the port of Ain Al-Sokhna on the Red Sea. The new company, Red Sea Copper, is a private free zone company with a production capacity of 300,000 tons per year. The estimated investment cost for the project, which includes a copper smelter and refinery, is $850 million and it will be located near Al-Sokhna Port, on an area of 1.7 million square metres. Al-Sewedy Cables will own 74 per cent of the project, while the remaining 26 per cent will be owned by Glencore. According to HC securities, Al-Sewedy Cables has one of the largest copper producing plants in the Middle East with a capacity of 120,000 tons per year. The plant is located in the 10th of Ramadan City. Operating 17 industrial plants in 12 countries, Glencore is one of the world's largest suppliers of metals and minerals, crude oil and oil products, coal and agricultural products. It has customers in various industries such as automotive, power generation, steel production and food processing. AL-EZZ STEEL REBARS: The steel producer announced that Al-Ezz Group Holding Company for Industry and Investment sold 12.5 per cent of the company to a group of investors through a private placemen. The stake sold in Al-Ezz Steel rebars comprised 7.6 million Global Depository receipts, equivalent to 22.8 million local shares. While the company declined to announce the value of the deal, market observers put it at around $160 million. Compiled by Sherine Abdel-Razek
