Dubai: Bahrain-based investment manager Investcorp has bought a controlling stake in Scotland-based oil field services provider Hydrasun, taking its $1 billion Gulf Opportunity Fund closer to full deployment. Investcorp has been selling assets and making new investments as financial markets recover from the twin blows of the Arab Spring uprisings and the global financial crisis. The company did not disclose the size of the stake or the value of the deal, but said it bought the holding from Equistone Partners Europe Limited. “It’s in the middle market range,” Mohammad Al Shroogi, Investcorp’s president for the Gulf business, said on Monday. “The size of the transaction is between the $150 million and $300 million range.” This is the fund’s seventh deal. About $750 million of Investcorp’s Gulf fund is currently invested and the company expects to fully deploy the fund by the end of July, Al Shroogi told Reuters last month. Having focused in the past few years on deals in the Gulf region, Investcorp is increasingly buying stakes further afield. Investcorp, which previously took public luxury brands Gucci and Tiffany & Co, had $11.5 billion in assets under management as of June 30, 2012. The company last year sold truck and trailer parts distributor FleetPride to private equity firm TPG for more than $1 billion.
Kuwait Finance House
Beirut: Kuwait Finance House, the Gulf state’s largest Islamic bank, said 2012 full-year net profit rose 9 per cent to 87.7 million Kuwaiti dinars ($310.4 million) compared with the previous year as revenues rose. The result fell short of predictions made by analysts at Kuwait’s Global Investment House, Egypt’s EFG-Hermes Holding, and Bahrain’s Taib Securities, who forecast a net profit of KWD118 million, KWD127 million, and KWD148 million respectively. “The growth in KFH’s 2012 financial results confirms the success of KFH’s Transformation Program,” Mohammad Al Khudairi, the bank’s chairman said in a statement on Sunday. In line with this programme, KFH consolidated the retail and wholesale operations which contributed to growth in revenues, he added. KFH’s fourth-quarter net profit jumped 24 per cent to KWD11.83 million from KWD9.54 million a year earlier, according to Zawya Dow Jones calculations based on Zawya.com. Total assets grew 9 per cent on year to KWD14.7 billion at the end of 2012 while deposits rose 6 per cent to KWD9.4 billion, KFH said in the statement. Net revenues rose 7 per cent to KWD932.8 million compared with the previous year, it said. The lender also said that its board has proposed a cash dividend payout that will represent 10% of the share’s par value and a bonus share distribution that will represent 10 per cent of capital.
National Mobile Telecommunications Co (Wataniya Telecom)
Dubai: Kuwait’s National Mobile Telecommunications Company on Sunday said efforts undertaken by the company in 2012, including network modernisation across its markets, will likely have a positive impact on its earnings this year, after it posted a 27 per cent drop in fourth-quarter profit. The telco, better known as Wataniya Telecom, said its net profit in the three-month period amounted to 12.6 million Kuwaiti dinars ($44.7 million), down from KWD17.3 million in the year before period. The earnings exclude a fair value gain recorded in 2011, according to an emailed statement. The telco, which is majority owned by Qatar Telecom, made a full-year net profit of KWD75.5 million, down 22 per cent on year. “Net Profit for 2012 was adversely impacted by various factors including competitive pressure in Kuwait, foreign exchange movements in Algeria and Tunisia and an impairment charge for a Build-Operate-Transfer operation in 2012,” Wataniya said. Wataniya noted that in 2012 it increased its stake in Tunisiana to 75 per cent, from 50 per cent, and has seen continued efforts of network modernisation across its markets with LTE planned for Kuwait and 3G and fixed services roll-out in Tunisia.“While operationally during this period, Wataniya Telecom has seen stable revenue growth of 2.2 per cent, foreign exchange impacts again impacted profitability and competitive dynamics in Kuwait remain challenging,” Shaikh Abdullah Al Thani, Wataniya’s chairman, said in the statement.
