Middle East Roundup

Halliburton eyes Mideast listing, eastern growth

MANAMA: US oilfield service giant Halliburton is considering listing its shares on one of the Middle East bourses as it looks at growth potential in the eastern hemisphere, the firm’s chief executive said yesterday. “One of the things that we would like to pursue... is a listing of our shares in the Middle East,” David Lesar said at an energy event in Bahrain. Halliburton has not yet decided in which country it would list its shares.

Bahrain seeks exploration bids

Bahrain: Bahrain, the smallest oil-producer among Arabian Gulf nations, will invite international oil companies to bid for contracts to explore for oil and gas in all of its territorial waters in the Persian Gulf.

The country, which can now pump about 190,000 bpd, wants oil companies to bid for four exploration blocks covering the entire offshore area off the island-nation, to counter declining production, Abdul-Hussain bin Ali Mirza, announced at an oil conference in Bahrain yesterday.
“Four contract areas have been defined encompassing the entire kingdom’s offshore territory,” Mirza said.

Agility buys 6.3% stake in Abraj

DUBAI: Kuwait’s Agility, the largest Gulf Arab logistics firm by market value, said it had bought 3.47mn shares in Abraj Holding Co, giving it a stake of 6.3% in the firm. Agility did not say how much it paid for the stake in a statement dated March 8, posted on the Dubai bourse website yesterday. Shares of Agility are also listed in Dubai.

Abraj Holding owns stakes in companies in the services sector in Kuwait and lends money to companies in which it owns shares.

Suez to bid for Fujairah 2 plant

ABU DHABI: France’s Suez group plans to bid for Abu Dhabi’s independent water and power project Fujairah 2, as demand surges due to population and industrial growth, a company official said yesterday.

“We are bidding for the Fujairah 2 water and power project before this month-end with our sister company Suez Energy International,” Jean-Louis Chaussade, CEO of Suez Environment, told reporters. “We are also bidding for a wastewater treatment project in Abu Dhabi.”

$54mn private equity firm set up

DUBAI: Gulf Arab investors, including members of a UAE ruling family, have set up a 200mn dirham ($54.47mn) private equity firm to tap growth in the country’s manufacturing sector, its founders said yesterday. The company, called Capital Industries and Investments, will take majority stakes in privately held construction and manufacturing companies in the UAE. It will invest the 200mn dirhams within two years, said Sheikh Sultan bin Saud al-Qassimi, a member of the Sharjah’s ruling family and one of the founders.

The UAE’s manufacturing sector has grown at 30% per year for the last three years and is the second largest contributor to gross domestic product, at 19.2%, after oil, the company said in a statement.

Regional banks target Al Watany

CAIRO: Egypt’s Al Watany Bank has been approached by an unspecified number of regional banks seeking to acquire a controlling stake in the bank, Watany said in a statement yesterday. Bank officials declined to name either the banks or their countries of origin, or how large a stake was being sought.

The banks had asked to perform a due diligence study on the bank, and had hired legal and financial consultants to follow up. In November, Al Watany Bank posted a 16% rise in net profit for the first nine months of 2006 to 83.1mn Egyptian pounds ($14.6mn).

Emaar earmarks $2.9bn for ’07

DUBAI: Emaar Properties, the largest listed Arab developer by market value, has allocated $2.9bn for projects in 2007, the company’s chairman said yesterday.

Mohammed Alabbar told a general assembly meeting that investments would be made in markets including Syria, Pakistan, and India. It was not immediately clear if those were in addition to the value of projects announced earlier. – Agencies - Gulf Times