RIYADH: Almarai Company, the largest dairy company in the Gulf Arab region by market value, said yesterday it had signed an initial deal to take over a Jordanian beverage firm as part of an expansion plan. Almarai would buy 75-percent of Taiba’s Investment and Advanced Food Co., a dairy and juice manufacturer, and finalize after it conducts a legal, technical and financial audit of the firm, it said in a statement on the bourse website. Almarai did not say how much it would spend to take over the Jordanian firm.
Bahrain SIMs under new terms
MANAMA: Bahrain is set to introduce new guidelines for the registration for the users of prepaid mobile SIM cards which are now available for walk-in customers across the country. The much awaited regulation will be announced by the Telecom Regulatory Authority (TRA) in cooperation with the Ministry of Interior and both mobile telephone operators in Bahrain. Bahrain Telecommunications Company (Batelco) and Zain mobile SIMs will be sold under new terms and conditions at all sales points by ensuring that no walk-in customer should be allowed to get hold of a mobile telephone SIM without rendering a complete information.
StanChart profit jumps 40 percent
MANAMA: Standard Chartered Bank, one of the world’s leading international banks with five branches and one sales center across Bahrain, has announced strong interim financial gains with revenue rising to BD24.5 million, up 29 percent in the first half of this year. Bahrain remained a key market for Standard Chartered Bank in its Middle East-South Asia region with its pretax profits rising 40 percent to BD16.1 million and earning a return on equity of 66 percent.
Lufthansa poised for alliance
ROME: Germany’s Lufthansa is the airline in talks with Alitalia over a partnership deal aimed at saving the cash-strapped Italian national airline from bankruptcy, a report said yesterday. “There is no longer any doubt on the foreign partner: Lufthansa is in pole position to sign an alliance,” said the La Stampa daily, citing sources close to the negotiations.
Mexico’s FDI drops 20 percent
MEXICO CITY: Foreign direct investment in Mexico has fallen and officials blame it partly on the US economic downturn. Mexico’s Economy Department says direct foreign investment fell to $10.5 billion in the first six months of this year. That’s a 20 percent drop from the same period a year before. Still, the amount puts Mexico on target to reach its $20 billion goal for 2008.
