Kingdom Holdings looks to Egypt

Saudi firm Kingdom Holding is considering investing $350 million in an agro-industrial project in Egypt, newspaper Al Mal quoted a senior company executive as saying yesterday. "I think we will reach the stage of negotiations and due diligence a month and a half from now," the financial daily cited board member Ahmad Halawani as saying. An Egyptian agriculture investment deal signed by Kingdom's billionaire owner Prince Al Waleed Bin Talal in 1998 was annulled by a court in April as prosecutors investigated the terms of several state land sales conducted when former President Hosni Mubarak was in power. That dispute was settled this month when Al Waleed signed a revised deal for the farmland at Toshka in southern Egypt. Article continues below Citadel Capital Citadel Capital SAE climbed to the highest in more than two weeks as Dubai's Abraaj Capital Ltd may hire Morgan Stanley as an adviser on the planned acquisition of a stake in the Egyptian private-equity company, two people familiar with the situation said. The shares gained 9.9 per cent to 6.68 Egyptian pounds, the highest intraday level since June 1, in early trade in Cairo. Five-thousand shares traded, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Citadel Capital Partners, the main shareholder in Citadel Capital, may hire Citigroup Inc to advise on the possible sale, the two people said June 16, speaking on condition of anonymity because the talks are private. One person said Abraaj is seeking a controlling stake in Citadel. Kuwait Stock Exchange Kuwait Stock Exchange plans to start a new index comprising 15 companies with the biggest market value and liquidity, state-run Kuna reported, citing an official at the bourse. Companies included in the new index, named ‘Kuwait 15', will be bi-annually evaluated, Sami Al Ma'jal, head of Information and Indexes Initiatives, told Kuna. The index will comprise National Bank of Kuwait, Mobile Telecommunications, Kuwait Finance House, Gulf Bank, Boubyan Bank, National Mobile Telecommunications, Al Ahli United, Burgan Bank, Kuwait Projects Holding, Mabanee, Agility, Kuwait International Bank, National Industries Group Holding, Gulf Cables Co and Boubyan Petrochemicals. Barwa Real Estate Barwa Real Estate Co, the biggest property developer by assets in Qatar, denied reaching an agreement to lease its entire Barwa City development. The company is still in negotiations with several companies about leasing the property, a company official said, speaking on conditions of anonymity. Al Sharq earlier yesterday reported Barwa reached an agreement to lease Barwa City entirely to Qatar Airways Ltd. The newspaper didn't say how it obtained the information. Zain Iraq Zain Iraq plans to sell 20 per cent of the company in an initial public offering on the Iraq Stock Exchange, CEO Emad Makiya said. The IPO "has to be by the end of August, which will be tough to meet," Makiya said in a phone interview from Iraq yesterday. "We're working with all concerned parties on this, but we may need to ask for an extension." InterContinental Hotels InterContinental Hotels Group appointed Ignace Bauwens as vice-president of operations for the Arabian Gulf. Bauwens, who will be based in Dubai, is succeeding Pascal Gauvin who became the company's vice-president of operations for the Near East and Africa, the company said in an e-mailed statement yesterday. United Wire Factories The Saudi market regulator approved a request by United Wire Factories Co. to sell 30 percent of its share in an initial public offering, according to a statement on the bourse website today. Boyner Boyner Buyuk Magazacilik AS, a Turkish department store chain, may outbid private equity firms including Carlyle Group and Bridgepoint Capital Ltd. to buy a controlling stake at retailer YKM, Milliyet said, without saying where it got the information. Istanbul-based Boyner may buy as much as 63 per cent of YKM.