6 telecom companies eye Egypt license France Telecom has expressed interest in buying Egypt s second fixed-line license, joining five Arab companies that are also interested, Egypt s telecom regulator said on Tuesday. A spokesman for the National Telecom Regulatory Authority (NTRA) said France Telecom had bought a booklet of conditions for the sale of the telecom license on Monday. The other five companies that have expressed interest are Orascom Telecom, Egypt s Alkan, Egypt s Giza Systems, Abu Dhabi-based Etisalat, and Saudi s Atheeb group, the NTRA spokesman said. The telecom regulator has said it would auction the license on June 19, bringing Egypt one step closer to ending the monopoly of state-run Telecom Egypt, currently the country s sole fixed-line operator. -Agencies Bank Audi, EFG-Hermes discuss possible merger Bank Audi announced that it is studying a possible merger with EFG-Hermes Holdings, according to a press statement on the CASE website. The bank added that if it takes place, the merger "may generate significant commercial and financial synergies. Bank Audi emphasized that "discussions are at a very preliminary stage, that no agreement has been reached, and that such agreements would be conditional upon obtaining shareholder and regulatory approvals, including the consent of the Central Bank of London. Another announcement will be made in due course, the statement added. -CASE Sharm Dreams capital increase 99.8 pct subscribed Hotel company Sharm Dreams for Tourism Investment said on Monday its 13 million share offer was 99.8 percent subscribed, raising LE 129.75 million ($23.68 million). The remaining 25,136 shares will be re-offered later after the approval of the Capital Market Authority and also to existing shareholders, Amr Helmy, the company s investors relations director told Reuters. Sharm Dreams offered 6 million new shares last June at LE 30 per share. It said later it would offer an extra 6.4 million shares, which it later raised to 13 million. This was a response to the capital increase of Sharm Dreams Holding company from LE 400 million to LE 700 million and to increase our investments in other companies, Helmy added. Sharm Dreams Holding for Tourism and Hotels owns 45 percent in Sharm Dreams. Shares were offered at LE 10 each and a LE 0.25 fee for a month ending March 12. The subscribed portion would raise the total number of shares in the company to 44.974 million shares. -Agencies CIB approves LE 1 dividend Shareholders of Commercial International Bank (CIB) approved a dividend of LE 1 ($0.18) a share for 2007, the stock exchange said on Monday. The cash dividend will be paid on April 3, the CASE said on its website. In February, the bank posted a 51 percent rise in 2007 net profit to LE 1.29 billion, including a one-time capital gain of LE 148 million linked to the sale of a stake in Commercial International Capital. -Agencies Natural gas found in BP, ENI area off Egypt A natural gas find in an area controlled by BP and a subsidiary of Italian firm ENI could hold one trillion square feet of reserves, the state news agency MENA said. BP and ENI subsidiary IEOC had bought rights to the eastern Mediterranean area where the gas was found 22,000 feet below sea level, Mahmoud Latif, chairman of state-owned Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company, was quoted by MENA on Monday. BP and ENI officials could not immediately be reached for comment. The state news agency did not give further details. -Agencies On the stock exchange Commercial International Bank (Egypt) said that as a part of its ongoing post-merger integration, it is planned that Hisham Ezz Al Arab, chairman and managing director of CIB, will assume the chairmanship position of Commercial International Capital Holding (CICH), replacing Sahar El Sallab. This is in addition to his current responsibilities at CIB. In other news, Suez Canal Bank said it has sold its stake in Suez Canal Company for Technology Settling with a surplus in profit of LE 457.2 million, The bank said it will use the surplus to sustain provisions for the first quarter of 2008. The Housing and Development Bank said the second phase of subscription in the bank s capital increase has been covered for 72,464 shares (LE 724,640) representing the uncovered portion with a rate of 296.6 times. The allocation rate reached 0.003 percent. -CASE Cutting domestic indebtedness Reuters reported that government has significantly cut gross domestic indebtedness this financial year and is on track to bring it down to 71 percent of GDP by the end of June, a senior official said on Monday. Hany Kadry Dimian, an assistant minister of finance, told reporters this would compare with 81 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) when the financial year started in June. He said the reduction had come about through reductions in the size of the government s budget deficit, which is running at 6.9 percent of GDP and is on track to fall to 3 percent of GDP by the financial year 2010/11, he added. The government s budget deficit in 2006/7 was equivalent to 7.5 percent of GDP, itself down from 8.2 percent in the previous year, the finance ministry says. The Finance Ministry has also helped to close the gap by raising more revenue through structural changes. Income tax receipts grew 21 percent in 2006/7, to LE 58.5 billion because of higher compliance rates and economic growth. The economy is expected to keep growing in 2007/8 at 7 percent or a little higher. The Finance Ministry is planning to achieve similar results with the sales tax, which many businesses now avoid, by tightening up the procedures for issuing invoices, Dimian said. A new real estate tax which the government is trying to push through parliament, will add at least LE 3 billion to LE 5 billion a year to treasury receipts within five years, he said. By 2010/11 the gross domestic debt of the budget sector of the government should decline to 54 percent of GDP and its foreign debt to between 9 and 10 percent of GDP, he added. The budget sector refers to central government, local governments and public service authorities, but does not include social security funds and the government s National Investment Bank, which taken together are usually in surplus. -Agencies
