Dana Gas sukuk yield hits a low

The yield on Dana Gas's $1 billion (Dh3.6 billion) Islamic bonds fell to the lowest in a month after the producer of oil and gas said the board will consider a revised 2012 budget at a meeting this week. The shares rallied. The rate on the 7.5 per cent sukuk due in October fell 491 basis points, or 4.91 percentage points, to 57.9 per cent, the lowest since January 18, at noon in Dubai, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The price gained to 72.96 cents on the dollar. The stock advanced 6.4 per cent to 50 fils in Abu Dhabi, extending Sunday's gain. Dana Gas was the second-most traded stock on the Bloomberg GCC 200 Index after Aldar Properties. Dana Gas also said its board on Wednesday will consider the status of current projects. The company produces and explores for oil and gas in Egypt and the Kurdistan region of Iraq. In both areas, it's seeking to boost output at the same time as it faces difficulty in getting paid. Article continues below Dana Gas may restructure its $1 billion Islamic bonds maturing in October as the payment deadline nears, HSBC Holdings said in January. The stock lost 38 per cent in 2011. The company's 14-day relative strength index rose above 70 on Sunday and reached 76 yesterday. A reading above 70 indicates to some investors that the shares are poised to decline. Orascom Construction Orascom Construction Industries, Egypt's biggest publicly traded builder, said it sold its target 1.15 million treasury shares in the form of London-traded global depository receipts in the period from January 20 to February 19. The Cairo-based company made the statement in a filing to the Egyptian bourse Monday. Beltone Financial Beltone Financial Holding, an Egyptian investment bank, said MM Group International for Industry and Trade bought 142,227 of its shares at 13 pounds (Dh7.82) each. The purchase, completed on Sunday, represents a 1.7 per cent stake in Beltone and raises MM Group's holdings in the firm to 11.26 per cent, the Cairo-based company said in a filing to the Egyptian bourse yesterday. CIB Commercial International Bank Egypt, the country's biggest publicly traded lender, said a banking licence it applied for in Algeria in 2006 hasn't yet been approved. The Cairo-based bank made the statement in a filing to the Egyptian bourse yesterday in response to its inquiries. ING Bank of Turkey ING Group's Turkish unit will offer 150 million liras (Dh313 million) of 179-day bonds between February 21 and February 23, the unit ING Bank said. The bonds will have an additional yield of 60 basis points more than the benchmark six-month bond yields, ING Bank said in an e-mailed statement yesterday. Brokers Is Yatirim and Oyak Yatirim will handle the sale, it said. Audi Saradar Investment Audi Saradar Investment Bank, a branch of Audi Saradar Group based in Beirut, Lebanon, set up a Middle East and North Africa equity sales team, newly appointed head of sales Mahdi Mattar said. Mattar will help build the division, which will also cover Turkey, he said by phone from Beirut Monday. Mattar joined the bank last week after leaving Abu Dhabi-based CAPM Investment, where he was head of research. Turkcell Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri, Turkey's biggest mobile-phone operator, may announce a net increase in 2011 subscriber numbers, Erkan Akdemir, chief executive of rival Avea Iletisim Hizmetleri, the mobile unit of the country's biggest phone operator Turk Telekomunikasyon, said. Akdemir clarified his earlier comments that Turkcell lost 961,000 subscribers in 2011, at a news conference in Istanbul Monday. The 961,000 drop showed only the number of Turkcell users who switched to other operators, not the change in Turkcell's total net subscriber balance for 2011, Akdemir said.