RIYADH: France’s BNP Paribas has bought a 25 percent stake in SAIB Asset Management Co., an affiliate of Saudi Investment Bank, the Saudi bourse’s regulator said yesterday. SAIB will change its name to become SAIB BNP Paribas for Asset Management, the Capital Market Authority (CMA) said in a statement posted on the bourse’s website.
Global eyes 20% stake in NBQ
DUBAI: Kuwait’s Global Investment House plans to buy a 20 percent stake in the UAE’s National Bank of Umm Al-Qaiwain (NBQ) through 2.36 billion dirhams ($642.5 million) of convertible bonds, the banks said yesterday. “Global shall have the option to convert the instrument into 330 million new shares of NBQ,” they said in a joint statement. The banks have yet to secure final regulatory approval for the transaction and no time frame has been set for Global to convert the bonds.
Agility wins $140m deal
KUWAIT: Kuwait’s Agility, the Gulf’s biggest logistics provider by market value, said yesterday it had won a contract with the US Marine Corps worth a total of $140 million over seven years. The deal was to store, distribute and maintain equipment at 20 bases around the world, Agility said in a statement. The contract is valid for one year and can be renewed for six more years, it said.
Infosys to buy Axon for $753m
BANGALORE: Leading Indian outsourcing company Infosys plans to buy British consultancy Axon Group for $753.1 million as it moves to expand its business advisory footprint, a statement said yesterday. The all-cash takeover deal is expected to be completed by November 2008, Nasdaq-listed Infosys, India’s second-ranked software services exporter by revenue, said in the statement.
Talks offered to save Nano plant
KOLKATA: The head of India’s West Bengal state invited opposition leaders yesterday for talks in a fresh bid to end protests against a plant building the world’s cheapest car. West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee issued the invitation in a letter to opposition Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee who launched an “indefinite” protest Sunday at the Tata Motors plant.
Six firms vie for Austrian Airlines
VIENNA: A total six airlines, including Lufthansa and Air France-KLM, are in the running to buy Austrian flag carrier Austrian Airlines (AUA), the daily Oesterreich reported yesterday. Potential buyers had until midnight on Sunday to notify their interest in acquiring a 42.75-percent stake in AUA currently held by the state-owned holding company OeIAG.
Egypt court fines 20 businessmen
CAIRO: An Egyptian court yesterday slapped 20 prominent businessmen in the cement industry with fines of 10 million pounds ($1.87 million) each for price fixing and breaking an anti-monopolies law. Judge Hisham Hamdi told a Cairo court that the businessmen had caused “deliberate harm to the national economy through practices like price fixing, in violation of the law governing monopolies.”