Industry

Qatari firm buys 33 pct of Manila's Liberty Telecoms

Qatar Telecommunications Co bought 33 percent of Liberty Telecommunications Holdings Inc, the chairman of the dormant Philippine firm said earlier this month, as Qtel pursues overseas expansion. "Yes," Ramon Ang, chairman of Liberty and president of San Miguel Corp, told reporters when asked whether Qatar Telecoms was the buyer of two blocks of Liberty shares worth 1.37 billion pesos (US$29 million) in the stock market earlier this month. The transaction, involving 426.8 million shares, is equivalent to 33 per cent of Liberty's outstanding shares. Last year, San Miguel and state-controlled Qtel entered into a deal to venture into wireless broadband and mobile phone services in the Philippines using Liberty as a vehicle.

Industry faces significant challenges in complying with new climate change regulations, says S&P

Emission levels and carbon (CO2) pricing will become increasingly important when assessing the creditworthiness of industrial companies, says Standard & Poor's Ratings Services in a special report on regulating CO2 emissions. Furthermore, says an article in the report titled "Regulating Carbon Emissions: What Lies Ahead For Europe And The U.S.," multilateral action will be key to achieving international agreement on curbing carbon (CO2) emissions at the forthcoming U.N. Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen on Dec. 7-18. What's also becoming clear from a credit perspective is that industry on both sides of the Atlantic may face significant challenges in complying with new climate change regulations. "Since carbon markets largely depend on a stable, long-term regulatory framework in which to operate, the outcome of the negotiations due to take place in Copenhagen will, in our view, be crucial," said Standard & Poor's credit analyst Michael Wilkins. "Yet, efforts to draft a new emissions-reduction regime to replace the Kyoto Protocol that expires in 2012 are proving slow."

Egypt industrial production increase by 80 per cent

According to Egypt State Information Service, Egypt's industrial production in fiscal 2008-2009 was to the value of EGP162 billion, 80 per cent more than in fiscal 2004-2005 after calculating production costs and price differences, according to a report compiled by the Cabinet's secretariat general. Actual industrial production annual growth rates rose by 2.9 per cent to reach eight percent over the past three fiscal years, said the report on the development of the country's industrial sector in the past five years.

Specialities Group Holding to build construction chemicals plant in Qatar

Kuwait-based Specialities Group Holding (SPEC), active in manufacturing and importing special construction chemicals and waterproofing systems, said it will build a plant for construction chemicals in Qatar, without disclosing any financial details. SPEC will own 80 per cent in the new facility. The plant will be built on a 5,775 sq m (62,162 sq ft) land plot, already allocated by Qatar's Ministry of Trade and Industry. Specialities Group Holding was established in 1959 under the name of Alghanem Specialities. It became a holding company in 2006.

Aluminium Bahrain to add 100,000 tons capacity

Aluminium Bahrain is likely to add around 100,000 metric tons of aluminum capacity in the next couple of years through tweaks to existing output, rather than large expansions, Ahmed Saleh Al Noaimi, Chief Executive of Aluminium Bahrain said. "Our priority is on capacity creep," he told the Metal Bulletin aluminum conference in Düsseldorf, Germany. "Through capacity creep, upgrades and so on, we'll add around 100,000 tons in the next two years," he added. The capacity creep will be through the upgrade of the company's fifth smelter production line, as well as the addition of new cells at the fourth potline, he said. When the company decides to go ahead with a brownfield expansion to add a sixth line, the infrastructure and required permits are already there, he told delegates.

Saudi Arabian Mining Co. ink deal with Olayan Descon

Saudi Arabian Mining Co (Ma'aden) has inked a deal with engineering company Olayan Descon for the construction of a 140,000-ton/y magnesite ore processing plant at the southern city of Medina. Investment cost for the project is pegged at SAR95 million (about US$25.3 million). High-grade magnesite will be sourced from Ma'aden's Zarghat deposit in the Al Gazalah Province in north-central Saudi Arabia. Ma'aden intends to churn out a broad range of magnesite products for agriculture, construction, fuel additives, and refractories applications.

S. Korea STX Heavy wins US$200m Saudi steel project

South Korea's STX Heavy Industries Co Ltd has won a US$200 million steel factory project from Saudi Arabia, STX Group said. STX Group said in a statement that STX Heavy and Saudi Arabia's South Steel Company signed a deal to build the factory by 2011.