CAIRO: Potential buyers have asked Egypt s government for more details on supply of raw materials before they commit to buy 50 percent of Alexandria Mineral Oils Company (AMOC), a cabinet minister said on Monday. The investors are still waiting for some answers related to the availability of the raw material or feedstock, Investment Minister Mahmoud Mohieldin told a news conference. Some potential investors are wary that the government is the main supplier of the refiner s feedstock - hydrocarbons from the Western desert - and want to sign an agreement on prices, the independent financial newspaper Al-Alam Al-Yom said on Monday. Public-sector shareholders in AMOC, which between them own 70 percent of the company, said in mid-September that they were offering 50 percent of the shares to the highest bidder. They invited bidders to announce their offers in Egyptian newspapers starting Sept. 17, on the understanding that they would be ready to pay the same price to any private-sector shareholders who want to sell, an announcement said. But no one has yet gone public with a bid for the shares. Mohieldin, who is in charge of Egypt s privatization program, said if the investors did not receive satisfactory answers, the government would have to look for another buyer. But this will be reflected in the price, he added. The state privatized 20 percent of the company last year through a heavily oversubscribed IPO and the next stage of privatization would leave Alexandria Petroleum Company as the only public-sector shareholder, with a 20 percent stake. The remaining 10 percent of AMOC shares are owned by workers organizations. Investors paid LE 45 pounds a share in the IPO in September 2005 and have made a profit of 80 percent. AMOC produces base oils, paraffin waxes, gasoil, naphtha, liquefied petroleum gas and fuel oil blends for heating.
