Al Khaliji plans brokerage company

Al Khaliji, a Qatar-based bank, plans to open a brokerage company after abandoning plans to merge with International Bank of Qatar earlier this year, Chief Executive Officer Robin McCall said. The bank has obtained a licence and plans to hire people to manage the brokerage, he said at a press conference at the company's headquarters in the Qatari capital Doha. Qatar said last year that local banks would be allowed to open brokerage firms, and Al Ahli Bank's broking unit will begin operating this week, Chief Executive Officer Salah Murad said yesterday. Al Khaliji shares plunged the most in almost two years on June 5, a day after the bank cancelled its planned merger with IBQ. The combination would have created Qatar's fourth-largest bank by assets. The bank hopes to hire an adviser to help it obtain a credit rating within six weeks and has held preliminary discussions with rating firms including Fitch Group Inc and Moody's Corp, McCall said. The lender hasn't decided when to tap debt markets, he said. Article continues below Goldman Sachs Goldman Sachs Group Inc will buy 26.47 per cent of Aksa Enerji Uretim AS, a Turkish electricity producer, by paying $450 million (Dh1.65 billion), or 5.05 lira (Dh10.76) a share, to Aksa parent Kazanci Holding AS, Aksa chairman Cemil Kazanci said in a telephone interview. Goldman lent Kazanci Holding $192 million as part of the deal, Kazanci said yesterday. The loan has a maturity of one year and one week, he said. Kazanci Holding pledged 43 per cent of shares in Aksa Enerji as collateral for the loan, Kazanci said. "We agreed on a unit share price of 5.05 lira with Goldman Sachs," Kazanci said. "The deal is expected to be closed in September," he said. "We plan further growth at Aksa with this cash injection." Aksa Enerji rose the most on record after its chairman said Goldman will buy the stake. Aksa gained 41 kurus, or 11 per cent, to 4.22 lira in Istanbul, the biggest increase since the shares began trading in May 2010. Aksa has a capacity of about 1,500 megawatts, Kazanci said, adding that it would soon rise to 2,000 MW. Alafco Aviation Lease and Finance expects to post "record" profit in the fiscal year ending on September 30 with a one-time gain of about 38 million dinars (Dh506 million), Chairman Ahmad Al Zabin said. Alafco has 36 aircraft on order this year from Airbus and is on track to take delivery of the first of fourteen 787s on order from Boeing in 2014. Bank Dhofar Bank Dhofar jumped the most in more than a year after the Primary Court in Muscat ruled in its favour in a case filed by Oman International Bank and others. The shares surged 9.7 per cent, the most since December 2009, to 0.610 riyal (Dh6.1) at 10:20am in Muscat. Bank Dhofar, Oman's second-largest bank by market value, said the Primary Court overruled "the previous judgment of the Enforcement Court that imposed an attachment on 26.1 million riyals from Bank Dhofar account." Ezz Steel The Egyptian Stock market stopped trading in Ezz Steel shares yesterday as the company has not reported its 2010 and first quarter financial results, a bourse spokesman told Zawya Dow Jones. A stock exchange committee on July 6 gave Ezz 15 days to report its financial results, the bourse said in a statement. Trading on the stock would then be halted if the company exceeded this time limit, it added. Ezz Steel wasn't immediately available for comment. Credit Suisse Saudi Saudi Arabia's Capital Market Authority, or CMA, said late Sunday it had approved Credit Suisse Saudi Arabia Co's plan to raise its capital by 43 per cent. The financial services company is seeking to raise its capital to 300 million Saudi riyals (Dh293.6 million) from 210 million riyals, the CMA said on the Saudi bourse website.