Agthia Group completes Pelit move

Food and beverage company Agthia Group PJSC said it has successfully completed the acquisition of Turkish spring water company Pelit Su, as the Abu Dhabi-based company seeks to expand its footprint beyond the UAE. The acquisition includes 23,000 square metres of land with space for potential future capacity expansion, the company said in a statement posted on the Abu Dhabi bourse website Thursday. CEO Ilias Assimakopoulos said the acquisition will facilitate "Agthia's growth into higher margin premium spring water, targeting not only Turkey and the UAE but the wider GCC and beyond". Agthia effectively took managerial control of Pelit Su on January 1 although the transaction was completed on Wednesday. Tabreed National Central Cooling Co, known as Tabreed, has opened its second district cooling plant in Ajman. The new plant has a capacity of 10,000 refrigeration tonnes, the company said in a statement to the Dubai bourse Thursday. Sujit Parhar, Tabreed's CEO, said: "The new plant in Ajman will provide year-round, energy efficient, cost-effective and reliable cooling to the local community. We are proud to open the plant and commence the supply of chilled water to our customers. Over the years, we have demonstrated our ability to remain the partner of choice for the UAE's leading private and government institutions and I am confident this new plant will play an important role in enabling the economic growth of the emirate." Pak Holding Pak Holding of Turkey bought Greece's Mel Macedonian Paper Mills, reaching a combined output of 280,000 tonnes a year and making Pak the fourth largest cardboard manufacturer in Europe. Pak Group is the owner of listed Turkish paper and cardboard producer Kartonsan Karton Sanayi and Ticaret, Pak said in an e-mailed statement from Istanbul Thursday. The purchase was made through Pak's Dutch subsidiary Pak Group BV, according to the statement. National Detergent The National Detergent Company (NDC) achieved sales revenue of 20.53 million Omani riyals (Dh196 million) in 2011 in comparison to 18.02 million riyals in 2010, an increase of over 14 per cent. The company's profit from operations was 1.21 million riyals, down from 1.74 million riyals in 2010. Profit before tax was 1.10 million riyals, down from 1.66 million riyals in 2010. The total accumulated profit before appropriation currently stands at 2.80 million riyals after tax. Based on the net profit, the board of NDC announced a 40 per cent dividend per share. Aksigorta AS Aksigorta AS, a Turkish non-life insurer owned by Ageas of Belgium and Haci Omer Sabanci Holding, said profit surged to 32 million liras (Dh65.2 million) last year, exceeding estimates. Net income rose from 1.48 million liras in 2010, Aksigorta said in a statement to the Istanbul Stock Exchange after the market closed on Wednesday. Saudi rail Saudi Arabia expects its local north-south railway project to cost about 20 billion Saudi riyals (Dh19.6 billion) not including the compensation that will be paid for real estate expropriations, the Saudi-based Al Riyadh daily reported Thursday, citing Mansour Al Maiman, chairman of Saudi Railway Co (SAR). Maiman was talking on the sidelines of the signing of a contract valued at more than 553 million riyals with Spain's Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF), the paper reported. Under the contract, CAF will manufacture five passenger train sets for SAR that it will deliver within 24 months, the daily said, quoting Maiman. Turk Hava Yollari Turk Hava Yollari, the carrier known as Turkish Airlines, climbed in Istanbul after saying passengers increased 19 per cent to 5.1 million in the first two months from a year earlier. Load factor, or the ratio of the number of passengers to seat capacity in planes, increased 4.8 per centage points to 71.6 per cent in the first two months, Turkish Airlines said in a statement to the Istanbul Stock Exchange.