Mobily Starts Major Expansion
Arab News
RIYADH, 16 October 2006 — Mobily has announced that it has completed the first and second phases of its independent network expansion in the Kingdom, which depends on a high and modern communication technology. Mobily also has announced that it has started the third phase on the network expansion which aims to cover the villages, suburban areas and roads between villages, that have not been covered by Mobily independent network. The expansion is planned to be completed by the end of this year. Chief Technical Officer Ali Bin Yaroof said that Mobily has completed the coverage of all the main cities in Saudi Arabia in the past two years, in addition to hundreds of villages and number of highways across the Kingdom.
Amlak Finance’s Net Income Soars 75%
Arab News
DUBAI — Amlak Finance, the largest publicly listed Islamic finance company and pioneer in home finance in the UAE, has announced a net income of AED231 million before the depositors’ share for the period ended Sept. 30, 2006. Net income before the depositor’s share represents a 75 percent increase over the same period last year. Revenues for the Islamic finance pioneer soared to AED290 million during the last nine months, which is a 71 percent per cent increase over the AED 169 million for the same period last year.
DM Completes 50% of AED95m Project
Arab News
DUBAI — Dubai Municipality has completed nearly 50 percent of a AED95 million project to expand the Used Car Complex in Ras Al Khor given the growing business at the existing premises. Essa Al-Maidour, assistant director general for General Projects Affairs at Dubai Municipality, said expansion works during the second phase involve construction of eight steel-structured complexes consisting 74 showrooms whose areas range from 360 square meters to 630 square meters. The total area of the complexes would be 130,000 square meters.
MTC Announces Murabaha Facility
Arab News
KUWAIT — Mobile Telecommunication Company (MTC), a major mobile operator in Kuwait, has mandated a group of banks to provide a $750 million syndicated Murabaha financing facility in the name of its fully owned subsidiary, Mobile Telecommunications Company International (MTCI). The facility will be used for general corporate purposes including refinancing of the existing $750 million signed on Dec. 18, 2005. The facility is fully underwritten by the mandated lead arrangers, ABC Islamic Bank (ABC), Arab Bank, Calyon Corporate and Investment Bank (CALYON), Gulf International Bank (GIB), Kuwait Finance House (KFH) and National Bank of Abu Dhabi PJSC.
KAMCO Launches Holding Company
Arab News
KUWAIT — The KIPCO Asset Management Company (KAMCO) has launched a new 50 million Kuwaiti dinar company to exploit investment opportunities in North Africa. The new company — North Africa Holdings (NAH) — was launched at a press conference yesterday. At the meeting, NAH’s Chairman Abdullah Yaccoub Al-Bisharah, former Kuwaiti ambassador to the UN, and other board members outlined the new company’s business strategy, and introduced themselves and NAH’s newly appointed chief Executive.