Egypt’s Al Borg Laboratories to merge with Al Mokhtabar Laboratories

Integrated Diagnostics Holding, a medical labs company to be formed by the merger of Egypt’s Al Borg Laboratories and Al Mokhtabar Laboratories, is planning an initial public offering on the Egyptian stock exchange within a year, according to an Al Borg board member. Ahmad Badreldin, the vice chairman of Al Borg and a senior partner at Dubai-based private equity firm Abraaj Capital, said the IPO would give investors access to a fast-growing industry in emerging markets across the region. The merger, he said, would result in higher profits and more cash to invest in acquisitions and expansion. “For a pure-play labs business it’s one of the biggest outside of Brazil,” he said. “Our idea is that you can grow this business significantly into other geographies but also other products. It was a one-trick pony. Now it’s multiple products and geographies.” Al Mokhtabar currently has a presence in Egypt, Sudan and Saudi Arabia, while Al Borg has central laboratories in Cairo, Amman and Khartoum. Abraaj, which has $7.5 billion (Dh27.5 billion) of assets under management, owns about 99 per cent of Al Borg. The company is to hold about half of Integrated Diagnostics Holding after the merger with Al Mokhtabar is complete, Badreldin said. The merger was announced on Monday. Hend Al Sherbini, the chief executive of Al Mokhtabar and a professor of clinical pathology at Cairo University, is to head up the combined group.

Lamprell

Nigel McCue, chief executive officer of oil rig engineer Lamprell Plc said he has the board’s backing after shares plunged 67 per cent this year. The company yesterday reported a loss of $47.1 million (Dh172.9 million) for the first half after delays on its Windcarrier projects, and a disruption in the supply chain hurt the delivery of jackup rigs. The Douglas, Isle of Man-based Company, whose main facilities are in Dubai, fell 2.8 per cent to 87.5 pence by 8:45am in London. “I’ve got the support of the board to continue,” McCue said in a telephone interview. “Behind the scenes we’re implementing reorganisation. In 2013, we’ll be back to profitability.” Lamprell received banking waivers at the end of June following covenant breaches, and it said yesterday it will have to negotiate with lenders again to avoid breaking loan conditions at the end of the year. While the company predicts a full-year loss of as much as $17 million, its order book stands at the “historically high level” of $1.5 billion, it said.

Albaraka Turk

Albaraka Turk Katilim Bankasi AS, the Turkish unit of Bahrain’s AlBaraka Banking Group, plans to raise as much as $750 million (Dh2.8 billion) through syndicated financing and an Islamic bond sale this year, the group chief executive said. The bank may raise between $400 million and $500 million from a so-called syndicated murabaha facility next week, CEO Adnan Yousuf said in a telephone interview late Monday from Alexandria, Egypt. The financing will mostly be in dollars, with some in euros, he said. The bank also plans to raise as much as $250 million from the sale of 7-year Islamic bonds this year. Albaraka Turk’s second-quarter profit surged 58 per cent to 46.8 million liras ($26 million), beating the 40.5 million lira average estimate of four analysts. The bank has $331 million of debt due in September, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Burgan Bank

Kuwait’s Burgan Bank, part of the Kipco group, expects to complete its acquisition of Turkey’s Eurobank Tekfen this year after which it will explore other investment opportunities in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Egypt, Kuwait-based Al Rai daily reported yesterday citing an executive. This is an opportune time as some investments are going below their book value, Majid Al Ajeel, the bank’s chairman told the paper. The bank is looking for opportunities abroad due to the weak growth of the local market and it expects its profit from overseas operations to rise to 50 per cent of its overall profit within the next two years, he told Al Rai. In other news, Ajeel said that his company is keen to enter the Islamic banking sector but most likely not through acquisitions and without totally converting into a full-fledged Islamic bank, the newspaper reported.

DGCX

The Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange (DGCX) yesterday announced the appointment of Abdul Wahid Al Ulama as an Independent Director. Abdul Wahid is currently a Member of the Board of Directors for the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA), and sits on both the DFSA’s Legislative and Regulatory Appeal committees. He is at member of the Board of Directors of Commercial Bank of Dubai, and is a certified arbitrator registered with the Dubai International Arbitration Centre (DIAC) and with the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC). Previously, Abdul Wahid was a senior advisor at Mubadala GE Capital PJSC (MGEC), a finance company regulated by the UAE Central Bank, and set up jointly by Mubadala and GE Capital. His role saw him strengthen the originations team and expand the company’s regional business network.

Cyprus Popular Bank Pcl

Cyprus Popular Bank Pcl, the island’s second-largest lender, said Dubai Financial Group LLC reduced its stake in the bank’s listed share capital to 8.8 per cent from 18.7 per cent.Dubai Financial’s holding in Cyprus Popular’s issued share capital and voting rights fell to 1.4 per cent, according to a filing yesterday to the Athens bourse from the Nicosia-based bank. Marfin Investment Group SA cut its stake of the listed share capital to 4.5 per cent from 9.5 per cent, while its holding of issued share capital and voting rights now stands at 0.7 per cent, the lender said in the filing.