OCI wins deal for electricity station Reuters reported that Orascom Construction Industries has won a deal to build an electricity station at Sidi Kerir in northern Egypt, the firm said on Sunday. OCI said in a statement that it had received an invitation on Saturday from the state-owned West Delta Electricity Production Company to sign a contract to build the station. OCI gave no further details on the deal, which Egyptian media have said was worth LE 560 million ($102.6 million). A company spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment. OCI Chief Executive Nassef Sawiris said late last year that after the sale of Orascom Cement his firm would continue developing its construction operations and investments in infrastructure and natural gas. -Agencies Oman s Petrogas, Oil Search in Egypt oil block deal Reuters reported that Oman s Petrogas said on Sunday it acquired a 30 percent stake in an onshore block in Egypt from Australia-listed Oil Search Ltd. as part of an expansion into North Africa. A Petrogas statement said it signed an agreement last week to acquire the stake in Area A with the block s owner, Oil Search, in a deal comprising two exploration concessions and four development leases located along the western side of the Gulf of Suez. Petrogas considers the deal to be a strategic move toward establishing an [exploration and production] business in Egypt and North Africa, and an opportunity to partner Oil Search in this and perhaps other ventures, the statement said, without giving financial details of the agreement. Petrogas, a unit of Oman-based MB Holding, has operations in Oman and India. Couchepin promotes health project in Egypt Swiss President Pascal Couchepin, who is on an official visit to Egypt, launched the second phase of a joint medical equipment program, reported Swiss Info. Switzerland is to donate $9.1 million over the next three years to provide x-ray equipment for 102 Egyptian hospitals. In a first phase that ended in 2006, Switzerland had invested SFr7 million to equip about 80 other hospitals and train staff. If we did not have the Swiss aid, we would not be so advanced, commented the Egyptian health minister when the project was presented on Sunday. We are proud of this excellent cooperation, said Couchepin, who is responsible for health matters as Swiss interior minister. Switzerland has spent a total of $330 million in health infrastructure in Egypt over the past 30 years. Arabia Cotton set to acquire four companies Reuters reported that an affiliate of Egypt s Arabia Cotton Ginning Company (ACGC) plans to buy four cotton companies for a total of $75 million after it completes due-diligence later in January, it said in a statement to the stock exchange on Sunday. The statement said the companies are Egyptian firms Setecore Spinning, Setecore Industrial Investment and Nasco for Trading Cottons, in addition to United Cottons of the United Arab Emirates. Arabia Cotton Ginning said Amwal Al Arabia Cottons, which it took over in October in a share swap, would acquire the four companies upon successful completion of due-diligence by Jan. 23. Arabia Cotton Ginning s net profit declined 42 percent to 5.3 million Egyptian pounds ($970,696) in the three months to Sept. 30, 2007. It made a net profit of 9.2 million pounds in the same period of the previous year. -Agencies Concord International Investments sells stake in Contact Car Trading Egyptian Direct Investment Fund Limited (EDIF), a private equity fund managed by Stanhope Overseas Limited, an affiliate of the New York based Concord International Investments Group L.P., completed its exit of Contact Car Trading Company generating an IRR of 36 percent and returning 3.2 times the invested capital. The stake, which was acquired in 2004 by the Egyptian Direct Investment Fund Limited (EDIF), was sold to Sarwa Investment Limited. Contact Car Trading Company was established in 2001 as the first company in Egypt specialized in providing finance to retail end users for acquiring passenger cars. The Company also sells car insurance service and has created its own insurance service club "Contact Service Club , which allows its clients to pay for insurance services through monthly installments, in addition to other benefits. Operating in a high growth market, Contact made considerable progress during the three-year holding period, achieving more than a two-fold increase in the active loan portfolio and more than a three-fold increase in the active insurance portfolio. With strong credit and collection policies in place and sound management and operating systems, Contact succeeded in maintaining a well diversified, high quality loan portfolio with minimal default rate. In 2005, the company executed the first securitization transaction in the Egyptian market. Two other securitization transactions followed in 2006 and 2007.
