PAKISTAN MISSION
A business and trade delegation from Pakistan held a meeting with Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry officials on Tuesday and followed it up with one-to-one meetings with local businessmen. The 10-member mission, headed by Ikram Ullah, director, Trade Development Authority of Pakistan, represented pharmaceutical, surgical, rice, fruit, vegetable, and meat sectors. Ullah said that the objective of such delegations was to expand trade, which bilaterally stood around $2.4 billion. Pakistan imports mainly oil worth $2 billion from the Kingdom and exports to this part of the world a range of items including textiles, rice, surgical instruments, carpets and light engineering goods worth about $400 million. “Our pharmaceutical representatives are also engaged in exploring the prospects of entering into joint venture deals,” he said, adding that the delegation was also seeking Saudi investment in Pakistan.
COSMELT
Cosmelt Paris, a French company which has its Arabic website, has decided to expand its presence in Saudi Arabia and rest of the Gulf through its newly opened branch in the UAE. The company is a result of the merger of three Saudi and UAE companies. Cosmelt has become a major international company that will be manufacturing oriental perfumes and it will be targeting the Kingdom, the largest market for perfumes in the Gulf, and other Middle East markets for its products,” the company spokesman told reporters in Jeddah yesterday. The size of the perfume and cosmetic market is estimated to be worth billions of riyals, with most of the products consumed in the Kingdom and elsewhere in the Gulf.
ASDA’A PR
Saudi Arabia’s most high-profile Emaar Economic City IPO has received a Gulf-wide award for effectiveness in marketing bringing new attention to the region’s growing PR and investor relations industry. The IPO, held from July 22 to Aug. 2 last year, netted a 2007 Gulf Marketing Review Effectiveness in Marketing (GEMAS) special commendation award. ASDA’A Public Relations, described as the largest independent PR consultancy in the region, spearheaded the Emaar E.C. campaign from its offices in Riyadh, Jeddah and Dubai. ASDA’A earned a second GEMAS 2007 PR award for its work to revitalize the BBC Arabic radio service across the Middle East. The IPO drew more than 10 million Saudis, more than half the nation’s adult population, and fetched SR7.18 billion in total subscriptions. Oversubscribed by 2.82 times, the SR2.55 billion IPO received 2.8 million applications and made headlines around the world, said Issam Galadari, MD, Emaar International MENA region.
NPHC
National Projects Holding Co. (NPHC), a subsidiary of the National Real Estate Co. of Kuwait, has appointed Fouad Ghanma as advisor to the board. Ghanma joins NPHC from his previous role as director for Middle East and North Africa for the Young Presidents Organization, bringing with him a wealth of experience in engaging key government and private sector stakeholders to develop sound regulatory company policies. “One of the core competencies Ghanma brings to our organization is his ability to connect with business and government leaders across the MENA region,” said Musaed Al-Saleh, CEO and vice chairman of NPHC. “This is vital to our vision of becoming one of the most innovative and leading holding companies not only in the region, but also in the world.” Ghanma earlier served as the regional manager, MENA for the World Economic Forum (WEF) and was based at the WEF Geneva headquarters in Switzerland.
BSF
Banque Saudi Fransi (BSF) organized a blood donation campaign
for two days at its head office in coordination with King Fahd National Centre for Children’s Cancer and Research, part of King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre in Riyadh. The campaign aimed at serving the community by participating and lending a helping hand to the people in need, and also in support of King Fahd National Centre for Children’s Cancer and Research, one of the well known centers specialized for receiving more than 80 percent of cancer cases among children Kingdomwide. It is also acknowledged that blood donation has its benefits including, stimulating the bone marrow to sensitize and produce new stem cells, stimulating the heart muscle and blood circulation which decreases the incidents of cardiac diseases and myocardial infarctions for donors.
VC BANK
Venture Capital Bank BSC © (VC Bank) held its sixth board meeting and reported a strong performance for the first full year of operations yesterday. Its Chairman Dr. Ghassan Al-Sulaiman said: “In October 2005, the founding shareholders of the bank embarked upon their ambitious mission to create the first Islamic venture capital bank focused on the MENA region. I am delighted to report that 2006 proved to be a blessed and successful first full year of operations for Venture Capital Bank. Our financial results, organizational developments and business achievements have all exceeded expectations.” VC Bank posted a net profit of $13.3 million for the period ended Dec. 31, 2006, achieved a return on equity of 20.1 percent and recommends a dividend of 12.5 percent of which 7.5 percent is cash dividend and 5 percent bonus shares. “This constitutes a record-breaking performance for the initial start-up period of an investment bank in Bahrain,” he said.
2i CAPITAL
The 2i Capital Group, which operates in India, U.K., and Mauritius, in conjunction with Oman-based Amwal Investment SAOC, advisers to 2i Capital, held a presentation for investors on the $300 million “Indian Infrastructure Development Fund,” in Bahrain yesterday. Guests learned about targeted real estate and infrastructure sector investment opportunities in the world’s fourth largest economy. The fund’s investments will be made on the basis of Shariah principles, making it the first Shariah Compliant fund for investing in India. Investors not wanting to invest according to Shariah principles will be given an option to invest through a parallel investment vehicle that will invest in projects and companies with the fund on a pro rata basis. Founder of 2i Capital Group Vivek Sekhar, who presented the lucrative investment opportunity with Vikram Lall, the group’s head of real estate investments, said: “The Indian economy has been on a growth trajectory with a GDP growth of six to eight percent in the last three years, led by exports.”
