Beirut (APD) -The investments volume of the Islamabad-based Saudi Pak Industrial and Agricultural Investment Company grew by 40% to SR 447 million ($119.18 million) in 2005 when compared with 2004, the Riyadh-based business daily al-Iqtisadiya reported Tuesday.
"Saudi Pak provided financial facilities worth SR 2.055 billion since its founding," said Abdullah Al Thenayan chairman of Saudi Pak which was established in 1981 for the purpose of long-term project financing, short-term working capital financing and equity participation in industrial and commercial projects.
The Saudi and the Pakistani governments each hold a stake of 50% in Saudi Pak.
Saudi Pak said it extended its financing policy to include traditional sectors such as cement, sugar, textile in addition to promising sectors such as construction, gas and oil.
"We have achieved a huge success in the securities markets. We have maintained a return on secondary markets investments of 25% for the fourth consecutive year," Thenayan declared.
Saudi Pak posted net profits of SR 52.4 million and revenues of SR 131 million in 2005. Its three business entities in Pakistan are Saudi Pak Leasing Company Pakistan, Saudi Pak Commercial Bank and Saudi Pak Tower Pakistan.
Of the three, the 2001-established Saudi Pak Commercial Bank was the most successful last year, reporting a 14% increase in customer deposits to SR 2.3 million at the end of 2005. The bank had boosted the number of its branches in Pakistan from 38 in 2004 to 50 in 2005. Its loan portfolio last year totaled SR 1.35 million.
Saudi Pak, which has branches in Karachi and Lahore, is in the process of establishing a regional office in Riyadh. [TS]
By Shikrallah Nakhoul, APD Staff Writer in Beirut
© APD (Arab Press Digest) 2006
