Savola Group, a Saudi-Arabia based food producer, is in discussions to purchase UK-based sugar refiner and sweetener group Tate and Lyle's stakes in sugar refineries in Egypt and Saudi Arabia. The ongoing negotiations are regarding Tate & Lyle's 10 percent stake in a sugar refinery in Saudi Arabia and a 3 percent stake in another sugar refinery in Egypt, reported Reuters. The deal is expected to be finalized by mid-January 2010. According to media reports, the agreement will put an end to the business partnership between the two companies. A spokesman for Tate & Lyle was quoted by Maktoob Business as saying: “When we announced the sale of our international sugar trading business in July 2008, we made it clear that the business sold excluded a small number of minority interests related to the sugar trading business which would be disposed of separately in accordance with the related shareholders agreements.” Savola's net profit was SR277.8 million ($74 million) in the three months to end-September, up from SR158 million a year earlier, the company said in a statement earlier. Sales over the nine-month period to end-September rose 28 percent to SR13.1 billion, up nearly 31 percent on the same quarter a year ago. ‘“Looking ahead, we expect the major growth factor could be the retail business. Savola is in the process of increasing its retail outlets,” said Syed Taimure Akhtar, financial analyst at Global Investment House. Excluding capital gains, net profit reached SR656 million in the nine months to end-September, up from SR485 million a year earlier. Total net profit, including capital gains, stood at 683 million riyals during the same period in 2009, up 2.5 percent from a year-ago period. Separately, the South Korea's state-run KOGAS will invest about 400 billion won ($344.9 million) to build an energy plant in Saudi Arabia, the company said on Wednesday. Early in the day, the Maeil Business Newspaper cited sources at the economy ministry and KOGAS as saying that the company would sign a preliminary deal with the Saudi Arabian government on Nov. 2 for the plant in Jubail, which would have an annual capacity of 300,000 tons of dimethylether (DME) from 2013. DME is mainly made from the synthesized gas by cracking natural gas, coal and bio-mass, and is considered cheaper and cleaner than liquefied petroleum gas.
