Zain Iraq races to meet IPO deadline

Zain Iraq faces "a big challenge" to meet an August deadline to launch an initial public offering and may end up floating less than a regulator-mandated 25 per cent stake, its chief executive said. The operator, a unit of Kuwait's Zain, must become a listed joint stock company by the end of August. "We have started the process some time ago," chief executive Emad Makiya said. "However, meeting the deadline would be a big challenge." Under the terms of the licences issued in 2007, Zain Iraq and rival operators Asiacell, an affiliate of Qatar Telecom. Qtel, and Korek — part-owned by France Telecom — must sell 25 per cent of their shares and list on the Iraq Stock Exchange (ISX) by August-end. With less than nine weeks to the deadline and the fasting month of Ramadan in between, the three carriers have offered only vague assurances of their intentions to list. "We are talking to the regulator and ISX about what is the best approach for the country," said Makiya. "The CMC and ISX may prefer smaller percentages (to be floated) at the beginning -- we shall coordinate these issues with them." Nomura values Zain Iraq at $3.7 billion (Dh13.59 billion) and Asiacell at $4.4 billion, making quarter stakes in both worth about $2 billion combined. Dubai Refreshments Dubai Refreshments yesterday announced its fin-ancial results for the quarter ended June 30. Revenue for the second quarter increased by 13.6 per cent to Dh256.7 million. DRC posted a net profit of Dh36.8 million for the quarter, a 68 per cent increase over the previous year. The operating profit for the second quarter increased to Dh36.6 million from Dh21 million in the corresponding quarter in 2010. In spite of the pressure on sales due to the turbulent econ-omic environment, the company said it managed to achieve increases in revenue and profits by optimising the total cost and implementing cost control programmes, improvement in sales realisation and exploring new export opportunities. Commercial Bank Article continues below Commercial Bank International has appointed Kris Babicci as chief executive officer, according to a statement. Babicci previously held the position of chief executive officer at Bank Dhofar, it said. Tamweel Shares in Tamweel PJSC, the home finance company majority owned by Dubai Islamic Bank, have been included in the DFM General Index and the banking sub-index as of yesterday. The announcement was made in a statement on the Dubai bourse. Tamweel shares restarted trading on May 10 after being suspended for almost two years pending its reorganisation. Kuwait Finance Kuwait Finance and Investment Co, an investment and asset management firm, said it received preliminary approval from most of its creditors to restructure the company's debt. Kuwait Finance's board cancelled a 20 million dinar (Dh268 million) capital increase and recommended a 50 million dinar share issue to lenders and a 30 million dinar issue to current shareholders, it said in a statement to the Kuwait Stock Exchange yesterday. Syria Syria called on international consultants for the third time to bid for work on a planned 750-megawatt power station, an official responsible for electricity projects said. The state-owned Public Establishment of Electricity for Generation and Transmission is seeking an adviser for construction of the €678 million (Dh3.6 billion) plant, Hisham Mashfej, the agency's general manager, said yesterday. "This is the third time we are calling on consultants to bid," said Mashfej, who is also Syria's deputy minister of electricity. "Offers that we were receiving in previous calls were either too expensive or had technical standards that were too low." The country wants a consultant for a combined-cycle plant to be built by Metka SA, Greece's largest builder of power plants, and Ansaldo Energia SpA, a unit of Finmeccanica SpA of Italy. The facility is to be located in Deir Ezzor in eastern Syria. Mashfej declined to give a date for construction and said the deadline for advisory bids will close on August 3.