Wednesday, Mar 28, 2007
CAIRO (Zawya Dow Jones)--Egypt's Artoc Group For Investment & Development said Wednesday it had set a deadline of March 29 to sign a deal with Emaar Properties over its 60% stake in Emaar Misr.
"We signed another deal Wednesday reiterating all the conditions of the previous deal we had signed and stating that everything should take place before March 29," Yasser Darwish, investment manager at Artoc, told Zawya Dow Jones.
Artoc Group said Emaar Properties had originally asked for an extension of the deadline until April 4.
Artoc Group wants to end its involvement in Emaar Misr, according to an agreement it reached March 12 with Emaar Properties.
Emaar Misr, which is 60% held by Artoc Group and 40% by Emaar, was denied listing on the Cairo and Alexandria Stock Exchanges Sunday.
Listing on the bourse was part of the agreement reached with Emaar Properties to make the transfer of ownership transparent and tax-free, according to Artoc.
The listing committee of the bourse refused to list Emaar Misr, stating the company didn't submit its profit for a period of at least one year and that its profit didn't come from its main activities.
Tuesday was originally the deadline for the execution of the deal between the two companies.
"We have deposited all our shares in the Arab African International Bank as part of our agreement and the second part of the deal is for the money to be deposited," Darwish said.
Artoc group said Tuesday Emaar had refused to share the tax burden of the deal and hadn't deposited the agreed to sum of money with the Arab African International Bank.
The deal was struck after disagreements between the two partners were reported.
Emaar Misr's two main projects are Uptown Cairo project, a residential and business center in the Mokattam area, and the Marassi resort in the North Coast area of Sidi Abdel Rahman, for which it won a bid in August for $175 million, outbidding Orascom Hotels & Development.
-By Maha El Dahan, contributing to Dow Jones Newswires, +20122267850, mahaeldahan@yahoo.com
Copyright (c) 2007 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
28-03-07 1105GMT
