Alkan to offer shares in Cairo Financial Alkan Holding will offer 25 percent of its subsidiary Cairo Financial Center (CFC) in a private placement this year, group Chairman Mohamed Nosseir told Reuters in an interview on Monday. We already mandated the Egyptian investment bank CI Capital and they are working on it, Nosseir said. The planned private placement would be worth up to LE 400 million, he added. Nosseir and his family own 100 percent of Alkan Holding, the sole shareholder in CFC. We only need partners and I would rather prefer foreign investors, he said. CFC is a fully integrated business and commercial complex accommodating financial, commercial and professional service activities, covering an area of 60,000 square meters near the Citadel overlooking Cairo from the east. Nosseir said he is also studying the idea of offering shares in Alkan Holding but had not yet decided on the matter. Alkan Holding, founded by Nosseir in 1974, owns several companies in activities ranging from communication and information technology (CIT), real estate and manufacturing to trade and distribution, and tourism and aviation. The company had a turnover of LE 3 billion and a net profit of LE 300 million in 2007 and operates in 11 countries including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Kenya and Burkina Faso, the chairman said. We are a cash-rich company looking for new opportunities, Nosseir added. The CIT arm of the company, Alkan CIT, has shown interest in competing for Egypt s second fixed-line license, scheduled for bidding in June. We are trying to forge a consortium and already have signed non-disclosure agreements with eight companies, Nosseir said. -Agencies EgyptKuwait Hldg buys 5 pct of Sudan s Petrodar An affiliate of EgyptKuwait signed an agreement to buy a 5 percent stake in the Sudanese oil company Petrodar for $400 million, the company said on Tuesday. A company statement sent to the Egyptian stock exchange said its subsidiary Tri Ocean signed the agreement with Sudanese state-owned company Sudapet, which is one of the shareholders of Petrodar. Petrodar has a 74,000 square kilometer concession in Sudan, with confirmed oil reserves of more than 1 billion barrels and daily production of 200,000 barrels, it added. Oil is transported to Port Sudan to be exported through a giant 1,300 kilometer pipeline, also owned by Petrodar, Mohamed Al Ansary, the managing director of Tri Ocean was quoted in the statement as saying. Other Petrodar shareholders include Chinese companies Sinopec and China National Petroleum Corp, and Malaysia s Petronas Carigali. EgyptKuwait Holding, the investment arm of the Kuwaiti Kharafi group in Egypt, has diverse holdings in the fertilizer, energy, insurance and agriculture sectors and holds 76.86 percent of Tri Ocean. In addition to EgyptKuwait Holding, another Kharafi affiliate owns about 10 percent of Tri Ocean. The Commercial International Bank owns 14 percent. EgyptKuwait Holding posted an 85 percent jump in consolidated net profit in 2007 to $104.03 million. -Agencies Average yield rises on 182-day Egypt T-bills. The average yield on Egyptian 182-day treasury bills rose to 7.836 percent at auction on Monday from 5.611 percent in last week s auction, reported Reuters. The central bank said it accepted bids for bills worth LE 1 billion. It had offered bills worth LE 2.5 billion. It accepted bids at rates between 6.799 and 8.13 percent, compared to a range of 5.521 to 5.69 percent at last week s auction, it added. The bills are for issue on March 25 and they mature on Sept. 23. SODIC brings first state-of-the-art golf simulator to Egypt SODIC (Sixth of October Development and Investment Company) brought the world s top golf courses to Allegria s backyard, the company said in a statement. The Golf Blaster 3 simulator, the first of its kind in Egypt, is ready for enthusiasts who have always dreamed of playing championship courses. Players can practice their swings using the high-tech simulator experience and have every stroke analyzed. The Golf Blaster simulator technology allows you to play a real game with a high-resolution image projector, artificial grass specially developed for golf purposes, and sensors within the floor, walls and the ceiling to accurately measure speeds, angles and directions. "This is a very sophisticated simulator, and the first in Egypt, said Sherif Aboul Kheir, SODIC s golf development manager. "Players of all levels can practice and enjoy the game on it year-round. "Players will soon be able to play on a life-like 18-hole course as it will be in Allegria, said Aboul Kheir.
