Drake & Scull bidding on $500m projects

Drake & Scull International (DSI) is bidding on well over $500 million (Dh1.8 billion) of projects across the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region but margins across the business are being "squeezed" due to competition, the company's top executive said. The group expects top line revenue growth of 20-25 per cent in 2012 versus the year before as it expands aggressively into India and bids on work in Sri Lanka, and former Soviet Union states like Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, DSI's Chief Executive Khaldoun Tabari said on Tuesday. "Margins are being squeezed," Tabari said. "You might grow the bottom line a little bit, 10-15 per cent, but you're not going to grow the top line." [There is] huge competition - it's getting fierce," he said, which varies across markets.

Damas

Damas International has appointed Japan's Nomura to advise it on a potential offer from Qatari conglomerate Mannai Corp, three sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Mannai, whose operations span the oil and gas, automotive, travel and logistics sectors, last month said it had secured commitments from shareholders, including the key Abdullah brothers, to buy 58.8 per cent of Damas at 45 US cents a share. At that price, an offer would value Damas at around $445 million (Dh1.6 billion), according to data. The stock, trading at 36 cents yesterday, has surged since the news of deal talk on January 4, gaining 63 per cent year-to-date.

Takween

Takween Advanced Ind-ustries Co, a Saudi Arabian manufacturer of plastic products, more than doubled on its first day of trading in Riyadh. The shares rose to 58.5 riyals in the Saudi capital. The initial public offering was priced at 26 riyals a share, managing director Abdul Mohsin Al Othman said in Riyadh yesterday. The company sees growth of as much as 12 per cent in Saudi Arabian plastic packing this year, he said.

Dolphin Energy

Dolphin Energy has launched a $1 billion (Dh3.67 billion), 10-year bond yielding 5.5 per cent, after getting strong demand, a banker familiar with the matter said yesterday. Orders for the bond crossed $6 billion late on Tuesday once the US market opened, the banker, who declined to be identified, said. Final pricing was also tighter than the initial talk of about 5.75 per cent, he added. The bond, which will mature on December 15, 2021, will be listed on the Irish Stock Exchange.

Qatar Electricity

Qatar Electricity and Water Co has agreed to buy a 23.3 per cent stake in Jordan's Amman East power plant from a Bahraini infrastructure fund, in a move by the state-owned Qatari firm to expand its international footprint. QEWC bought the stake from IDB Infrastructure Fund, a $730 million (Dh2.6 billion) private equity fund established in 2001 and managed by EMP Bahrain, a subsidiary of EMP Global. The IDB Fund's mandate is to make investments in infrastructure projects in Islamic countries.

Riyad Bank

Riyad Bank, Saudi Arabia's third-largest lender by market value, expects its profit in 2012 to grow at the same pace as last year, boosted by government spending, Senior Vice President Hesham Al Abdali said. "Net income this year may grow around the same figure of last year and lending may accelerate 10 to 13 per cent," he said.

Food Industries

Food Industries Holding Co, a state-run Egyptian commodities buyer, purchased 24,000 metric tonnes of sunflower oil at a tender, according to two traders involved in the transaction. FIHC bought two 12,000-tonne cargoes from Toepfer International and Nidera Inc at $1,132.45 (Dh4,156) a tonne, including cost and freight, for arrival between March 10 and 31, the traders said.

Akbank

Turkish lender Akbank expects loan growth to exceed 15 per cent in 2012, and deposit growth will be above 12 per cent, the bank's chief executive Hakan Bin Basgil said. Turkish banking sector loan growth will be around 15 per cent this year, while deposit growth in the sector as a whole will be about 12 per cent, Bin Basgil said.

— Compiled from staff reports and agencies