du and Injazat unite in IT agreement

Telecom service provider du and Injazat, a communication services provider in the UAE, have formally entered into a partnership agreement to provide business customers with networked IT services.

It is envisaged the new agreement once finalised, will allow du and Injazat, who currently have a long standing partnership, to quickly integrate Injazat's latest managed networked IT services with du's and Injazat's combined telecommunication services and business solutions.

"du and Injazat share tremendous synergy in the area of managed network services.

"The benefits of a potential joint proposition could see customers gain significant return from their networks through greater productivity and reduced operating expenses," commented Fareed Faraidooni, Chief Commercial Officer, du.

"Not only will this potential collaboration be beneficial to the UAE's business by making these services available to them, but it will serve as a benchmark for the increased adoption of managed networked IT services in the region," he added.

Hits now in Tanzania

Hits Telecom Holding Company, a Kuwait-based telecom company, has launched its operations in Tanzania. The Tanzanian unit, ExcellentCom, will cover 70 per cent of the African country's territories.

Hits CEO, Barr Erickson, said that over the next months focus will be on building ExcellentCom's structure and network, as well as concluding strategic partnerships. Hits provides internet, fixed and mobile phone services, in addition to other telecom services through its units in Europe, Asia, America and Africa.

Sarasin-Alpen licence

The Sarasin Group, which has its roots as a Swiss private bank, announced the establishment of an office in Bahrain. The new entity — Sarasin-Alpen (Bahrain) BSC — has been granted an Investment Business Firm Category 2 licence from the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) to offer advisory services to wealthy private clients. The Sarasin Group is incorporated in the GCC and India as Sarasin-Alpen. It operates alongside its Investment Banking associate, Alpen Capital. The two organisations operate through a simple and successful business model where the investment banking services of Alpen Capital complement the private banking activities of Sarasin-Alpen.

BFH

Bahrain Financial Harbour said yesterday it has recently signed a seven-year 90.5 million Bahraini dinars (Dh881.3 million) Ijara facility for the Financial Centre Project.

Al-Salam Bank-Bahrain was the mandated lead arranger and BBK, Kuwait Finance House and National Bank of Bahrain were co-lead arrangers, while Bahrain Islamic Bank was the arranger, BFH said in a statement on the Bahrain bourse web site. BFH had said earlier that the proceeds of the financing were used in part to fund the repayment of Al Marfa'a Al Mali sukuk amounting to $134 million (Dh492.1 million).

Tamdeen

Kuwait's Tamdeen Investment Co said it has made good progress towards concluding a deal to sell its stake and the stakes of other shareholders in Bahrain's Ahli United Bank, or AUB, amounting to a combined 25 per cent, Kuwait-based Al Watan daily reported yesterday citing an executive.

The stake sale contract has been extended to September 1 because the Central Bank of Bahrain hasn't yet made a decision regarding the buying party, Mesha'al Al Marzouq, Tamdeen's chairman and chief executive, said.

EFG Hermes

Goldman Sachs has cut EFG Hermes target price to EGP33.8, from EGP37.1 to take into account the company's recent 2Q results. The analysts noted that EFG's 2Q earnings were lower than their expectations mainly on account of a lower than expected fee income from the brokerage division as regional indexes declined and market activity remained subdued. "As a result, we have lowered fee income estimates by about 10 per cent for 2010 and on average five per cent for 2011 and 2012," Goldman said.