Egypt s Beltone sees result of stake talks in days
Egyptian investment bank Beltone Financial expects to reach a deal or end talks on selling a stake to Pioneers Holding in three days, the stock exchange said on Thursday.
A statement issued by the stock exchange on Wednesday had said Pioneers was in talks to buy a stake in Beltone but did not give details about the size of any deal.
Beltone said it expected to notify the bourse about the result of negotiations before the start of Sunday s session, the statement said.
Analysts have said a tie-up between the two firms could be complementary.
Beltone, which oversees some $5 billion in assets, is based in Egypt and has offices in New York, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
Pioneers, which specializes in brokerage services, offers market research and investment banking for retail and institutional clients. It operates in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Syria. – Reuters
Heliopolis Housing Q3 profit slides 32 percent
Egypt s Heliopolis Housing, a real estate company, posted a net profit of LE29.3 million ($5.36 million), a 32 percent drop from a year ago, the stock exchange said on Thursday.
The company reported a net profit of LE38.7 million in the same period last year, the statement said without adding further details. – Reuters
Palm Hills in joint venture to develop land
Egyptian property company Palm Hills Development has formed a joint venture with contractor Hassan Allam Sons to develop 238,560 square meters of land, an executive said on Thursday.
The venture s first project will be Park View, a 97,661 square meter residential development in New Cairo, Investor Relations Manager Sara El-Gawahergy told Reuters in an email.
Demand for housing in Egypt has remained relatively buoyant compared with other parts of the world since the global economic crisis began last year.
This strategic partnership with Hassan Allam Sons will provide the two companies an exceptional opportunity to benefit from and exchange knowledge in real estate development, Palm Hills said in a statement to the stock exchange.
Construction work on Park View is expected to start in January 2010 and finish in March 2013, Gawahergy added.
Palm Hills said it will hold a 51 percent stake in the new company, called City for Real Estate Development, with Hassan Allam Sons owning the remainder.
Palm Hills says it has a land bank of about 48.8 million square meters in Egypt and Saudi Arabia and the firm targets higher end buyers seeking first and second homes, with unit prices averaging LE1.5 million. – Reuters
Oil prices rise above $80
Oil prices climbed above $80 a barrel on Friday as traders looked ahead to employment data in the United States, the world s biggest energy consuming nation.
New York s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in December rose 36 cents to $80.01 a barrel.
Brent North Sea crude for December delivery gained 45 cents to $78.44 in London trade.
Non-farm payrolls data due out Friday are expected to show the US unemployment rate rose to 9.9 percent in October, from a 26-year high of 9.8 percent in September.
Ahead of the data analysts warned about slack energy demand as the global economy struggles to recover from the financial crisis. – AFP
BSNL to go direct to Zain if consortium talks fail
Indian state telecoms Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd said on Friday it would directly engage Kuwait s Zain for purchasing a stake if talks by a consortium the Indian firm is part of fail.
BSNL, along with Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd, a smaller state firm, are part of a group led by little known Indian company Vavasi, which aims to take a 46 percent holding in the Kuwaiti firm.
Chairman Kuldeep Goyal said if BSNL had to go directly, it would take MTNL along with it. – Reuters
Kuwait cuts Dec-Nov naphtha supplies offer to plus $13/T
Kuwait Petroleum Corp (KPC) has lowered its offer for naphtha supplies lifting December 2009-November 2010 for the fourth time, by $1.00, to $13.00 a ton premium to Middle East quotes on a free-on-board (FOB) basis, traders said on Friday.
The lower offer came despite Taiwan s CPC having accepted the higher price at $14.00 a ton premium, which other buyers including South Korea s Hanwha, YNCC, Japanese Mitsui Chemical and India s Haldia resisted.
Usually KPC does not revise its offer as long as one buyer accepts a price, traders said.
But this time around, the resistance was rather strong, with highest bids capped at $12.00 a ton premium, said a trader. – Reuters
