Kuwait's sale of half of its stake in the country's largest mobiles firm MTC for over half a billion dollars faced a fresh delay yesterday when parliament failed to give the controversial plan a final review. But the government indicated it might still go ahead with the plan while the elected house waits to discuss the issue at its next session in two weeks' time.

The sale "is an executive decision within the government's powers and we can go ahead with it, taking into consideration remarks (reservations) made by members of parliament," Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Cabinet and Parliament Affairs Mohammad Sharar told Reuters after yesterday's session. But ministers asked by Reuters would not give clear indications on the government's next steps in the public subscription which was due to open on April 2.

The government suspended the sale of 113 million shares in Mobiles Telecommunications Co (MTC) at a discount after a heated parliamentary debate last month and the issue was sent for review by the finance committee of parliament.

The committee has completed its report and politicians were expecting it to be discussed on Tuesday but the agenda was crowded and the issue was left unresolved. State-owned Kuwait Investment Authority, which holds the state's 49.2 per cent stake in MTC, had announced the planned sale on March 18 at 1.453 dinars a share, triggering a decline of 5.2 per cent to 1.84 dinars in the following day's trade.

MTC closed yesterday down 20 fils at 1.76 dinars, compared with a year-high on March 10 of 1.96 dinars - a 25 per cent rise for the year. There are 1,000 fils to the dinar ($3.255).
Blue chip MTC is one of the most popular of some 87 listed concerns.

It is among just a few firms which foreign investors are expected to show a strong interest in after trading on the Kuwait Stock Exchange was opened to all foreigners. Several small investors had complained that the MTC sale would eventually place the company in the hands of an alliance of a few large local market players who already hold key stakes.

MTC in April raised the company's capital to 49.33 million dinars from 46.98 million dinars, increasing the number of total shares to 493.3 million shares. MTC's net profit rose 16 per cent in 2000 to 69.627 million dinars while total assets stood at 268 million dinars.