Global Investment House's net loss drops

Kuwait's Global Investment House, which is undergoing its second debt restructuring in three years, said 2011 net loss narrowed compared with the previous year, helped by lower writedowns of its financial assets. The firm, one of the largest investment houses in Kuwait, posted a net loss of 57.5 million dinars (Dh761.85 million) last year, versus a loss of 73.2 million dinars in 2010, it said in a bourse filing yesterday. It is the third straight year that Global has reported an annual loss, having lost 148.2 million dinars in 2009. Fee and commission income fell to 14.1 million dinars in 2011, compared with 20.7 million dinars in the previous year. The company benefited from a big drop in writedowns on the fair value of its financial assets, which dropped to 2.1 million dinars in 2011 versus 35.6 million dinars in 2010.

Turkish Airlines

Turk Hava Yollari, the carrier known as Turkish Airlines, will probably agree to purchase Poland's state-owned carrier Polskie Linie Lotnicze LOT within a month, Bloomberg HT reported, citing Turkish Airlines chairman Hamdi Topcu. The two sides are close to an accord, Topcu said in Istanbul Tuesday, according to the news channel. Turkish Airlines and LOT are members of the Deutsche Lufthansa AG-led Star Alliance group of airlines. Poland has been seeking to sell shares in Warsaw-based LOT since 2009 after buying back a 25 per cent stake from Swissair's bankruptcy receiver. The Treasury Ministry, which oversees most state companies, said in September 2010 that it may sell a minority stake and offer remaining shares in an initial public offering.

Adia

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) Tuesday said it named Christophe Florin, a former executive at French insurance giant Axa, as head of emerging markets fund investments of ADIA's private equity business. Florin will be responsible for managing existing investments in emerging market funds and for carrying out future investments. He joins from the French insurer Axa's private equity arm where he was member of the executive board and chief operating officer.

Kuwaiti Holding Co.

Egyptian Kuwaiti Holding Co., a Cairo-based private equity firm, said its first-quarter profit declined 25 per cent due to labour strikes at companies it has invested in and the suspension of its oil operations in Syria because of political unrest. Net income for the period that ended March 31 was $25.4 million (Dh93.29 million) compared with $31.4 million a year earlier, the company said in a filing to the Egyptian bourse Tuesday.

Yildiz Holding

Yildiz Holding, a Turkish group of companies, seeks new acquisition opportunities after buying about 10 companies annually in recent years, chief financial officer Cem Karakas said. Yildiz Holding bought a marketing company in Saudi Arabia last week, Karakas said at a conference in Istanbul Tuesday.

RasGas

Ras Laffan Liquefied Natural Gas Co., the Qatari LNG exporter known as RasGas, delivered its first Q-Flex cargo to Barcelona, the company said in an e-mailed statement. The Al Utouriya delivered the chilled gas to Endesa SA as part of a long-term sales agreement, the company said.

Q-Flex tankers are among the world's biggest, capable of carrying as much as 217,000 cubic metres of LNG.

Kuwait Gulf Oil

Kuwait Gulf Oil Co. (KGOC) plans to increase its oil production by 100,000 barrels a day to 350,000 barrels a day by 2014-15, state-run Kuwait News Agency (Kuna) reported on Monday, citing the company's chairman and managing director. The unit of Kuwait Petroleum Corp. (KPC) is also aiming to increase gas extracted from oil fields to 500 million feet during the same period, Hashem Al Rifaee said, according to Kuna. KGOC's target is part of KPC's plan to raise Opec member Kuwait's output to 4 million barrels a day from the current 3 million barrels a day by 2020.