Saudi Investors Buy Stake in Oriental Weavers

Cairo, Egypt, June 12, 2008--Egypt-based rug and carpet maker Oriental Weavers sold 941,291 of its own shares to a strategic consortium led by the Saudi-based private equity group Amwal AlKhaleej, the company said.

In a statement, the company did not state the price but the shares traded on Wednesday at between 58.80 and 63.90 pounds, making the deal worth at least $10.3 million.

Oriental Weavers had said earlier that the sale would "reflect the investor's confidence in the company and its future expansion plans".

The shares represent only 1.7 percent of the company but an official at Oriental Weavers said this week that the investor might buy a larger stake in the future.

Oriental Weavers calls itself the world's biggest maker of machine-made rugs.

Amwal Alkhaleej said in April that it was looking at the possibility of a polypropylene plant in Algeria in alliance with Oriental Weavers.

The two companies are also cooperating on a plant in the Egyptian city of Port Said to produce 400,000 tonnes of polypropylene a year starting in the second quarter of 2010, using propane gas and exporting to Europe. Amwal said it had a 15 percent stake in that project.