BUSINESS CIRCLES

MAGHREB CONFIDENTIAL  n°917 - 11/03/2010 TUNISIA Political Elite in Solar Energy Vanguard Everybody is climbing aboard the solar energy bandwagon, and specially prominent political figures. Former ministers and cronies of current ministers are putting the final touches to their projects in this fashionable field. The outlook appears promising. Subsidies are expected to rain on the solar energy industry thanks to a combination of Tunisia’s solar energy plan (see opposite) and international financial organizations. (...)  [571 words]  [$9.5] MAGHREB CONFIDENTIAL  n°917 - 11/03/2010 MOROCCO Bouod Extends Business Network A Marseilles-based businessman who was born in Agadir, El Hassan Bouod is doing the rounds in France to promote the brand new Chambre de Commerce et d’Industrie Marocaine en France (CCIMF). (...)  [208 words]  [$5.4] MAGHREB CONFIDENTIAL  n°917 - 11/03/2010 ALGERIA French Expertise for Waste Disposal? Confronted by major pollution problems, Algeria’s environment minister, Cherif Rahmani, is seeking technology transfers from international specialists in the management of waste. (...)  [209 words]  [$5.4] MAGHREB CONFIDENTIAL  n°917 - 11/03/2010 ALGERIA Timetable for Sonatrach Bribe Case The Sonatrach case has been unfolded according to a strict timetable ever since the court at Sidi M’hammed began looking at it in mid-February. (...)  [167 words]  [$5.4] MAGHREB CONFIDENTIAL  n°917 - 11/03/2010 TUNISIA Chayata Has Big Things in Mind Moving with great discretion, the Tunisian businessman Sedki Chayata is launching a raft of new ventures. Already present in the plastics business with Tunisian Global Plasturgy, he has just inaugurated a firm specializing in packaging, Technipack. (...)  [191 words]  [FREE] MAGHREB CONFIDENTIAL  n°917 - 11/03/2010 TUNISIA Hamada in Billion Dollar Push The long standing environment minister Nadhir Hamada, who has held the portfolio for nearly six years, is overseeing multi-million dollar deals. (...)  [186 words]  [$5.4] MAGHREB CONFIDENTIAL  n°917 - 11/03/2010 LIBYA Americans Feel at Home in Tripoli Will the United States gain from the current diplomatic freeze between Libya and the Europeans? Just as Libya, squabbling furiously with Switzerland, temporarily closed its doors to businessmen from countries in the Schengen zone, the American ambassador to Libya, Gene Cretz, set American-Libyan military cooperation into motion on March 2. (...)  [214 words]  [$5.4] MAGHREB CONFIDENTIAL  n°916 - 04/03/2010 MOROCCO Solar Energy: Scramble for Ouarzazate The race is on to build the big, 500 MW solar power station at Ourzazate. No less than nine companies are in the running for a contract to design the facility that will be the blue ribbon project of Morocco’s Solar Plan (MC 909). (...)  [222 words]  [$5.4] MAGHREB CONFIDENTIAL  n°916 - 04/03/2010 ALGERIA A Prescription from Doctor IMF Issued on March 2, the latest International Monetary Fund (IMF) report on Algeria presents a mixed picture of the country’s economy. (...)  [216 words]  [$5.4] MAGHREB CONFIDENTIAL  n°916 - 04/03/2010 MOROCCO Attali in New Drive for Micro Finance Micro finance appears to be marking time in Morocco but could well receive a much-needed push from the mobile telephone. (...)  [217 words]  [FREE] MAGHREB CONFIDENTIAL  n°916 - 04/03/2010 TUNISIA New Tech Push by Ribes & Baccar The government has enrolled international consultants in what president Zine El Abedine Ben Ali views as a national priority: (...)  [208 words]  [$5.4] MAGHREB CONFIDENTIAL  n°916 - 04/03/2010 TUNISIA Celamin Probes Phosphate Market Will foreign operators be allowed to break the near-monopoly that state-owned Compagnie des Phosphates de Gafsa enjoys over the extraction of phosphate? (...)  [185 words]  [$5.4] MAGHREB CONFIDENTIAL  n°916 - 04/03/2010 LIBYA Visa Ban Hits at Nuclear Program The job of Libya’s top nuclear energy official, Ali Mohamed Gashut, is no picnic at the moment. Tasked with overseeing the construction of Libya’s first nuclear power station (MC 913), the director of the Libyan Atomic Energy Establishment (LAEE) has suddenly found his job rather harder to perform. (...)  [229 words]  [$5.4] MAGHREB CONFIDENTIAL  n°915 - 25/02/2010 NORTH AFRICA North Africans in France’s Islamic Banking? Change is sweeping the tiny world of Islamic finance in France. With finance minister Christine Lagarde determined to turn Paris into a world-class financial center, financiers, legal experts and clerics are taking a close look at Islamic finance, a sector that is both unexplored and highly promising. (...)  [385 words]  [$9.5] MAGHREB CONFIDENTIAL  n°915 - 25/02/2010 MOROCCO Moroccan Initiation for US Officers? Will Marrakech turn out to be a compulsory stopover for the American military before it moves on to Iraq? Newly-minted US Army officers are to spend a good six months in Morocco, between March 15 and Sept. (...)  [155 words]  [$5.4] MAGHREB CONFIDENTIAL  n°915 - 25/02/2010 ALGERIA Netgem Plants Flag in North Africa? France’s Netgem has positioned itself on North Africa’s promising triple play (telephone, Internet, television) market by penning a four-year accord with Algeria Telecom. (...)  [180 words]  [$5.4] MAGHREB CONFIDENTIAL  n°915 - 25/02/2010 ALGERIA Italians Set Sights on Algeria? Already solidly entrenched in Libya and Tunisia (Italy is respectively the first and second trading partner of the two), Italian businessmen spy a lot of opportunities in Algeria as well. (...)  [230 words]  [FREE] MAGHREB CONFIDENTIAL  n°915 - 25/02/2010 TUNISIA A Business-Oriented “Sciences Panel”? The creation of a Comite de Haut Niveau de la Science et de la Technologie ought to please Tunisian businessmen working in high tech areas. (...)  [202 words]  [$5.4] MAGHREB CONFIDENTIAL  n°915 - 25/02/2010 TUNISIA Zenaidi Contends with “Viagra Lobby”? Health minister Mondher Zenaidi finds himself confronted with a rather unexpected threat. It’s neither a devastating virus or the threat of a strike by medical personnel but rather simmering opposition from none other than the Viagra lobby. (...)  [174 words]  [$5.4] MAGHREB CONFIDENTIAL  n°915 - 25/02/2010 LIBYA Former Verenex Men Back in Business? The old executive team of the Verenex oil company has turned to fresh vistas. The former CEO and co-founder of the firm, Jim Mc Farland, is using the money earned by selling Verenex assets to the Libyan authorities to start up new petroleum operations. (...)  [208 words]  [$5.4] MAGHREB CONFIDENTIAL  n°914 - 18/02/2010 MOROCCO Ida Hassan a Mouthpiece in Madrid The former head of the Madrid bureau of Morocco’s official news agency, Maghreb Arabe Presse, Said Ida Hassan, is cultivating his connections in Madrid. (...)  [209 words]  [$5.4] MAGHREB CONFIDENTIAL  n°914 - 18/02/2010 ALGERIA The Missing Parts in Car Sector Renault’s decision to build a plant near Algiers (MC 914) has given a sharp push to projects by industry minister Hamid Temmar who is turning over every stone to develop a local car industry. (...)  [184 words]  [$5.4] MAGHREB CONFIDENTIAL  n°914 - 18/02/2010 TUNISIA El Materi in Bid to “Develop” Goulette Even though he is launching his own Islamic bank, Zitouna, Sakher El Materi has found time for his other projects. (...)  [199 words]  [$5.4] MAGHREB CONFIDENTIAL  n°914 - 18/02/2010 TUNISIA Has Djemmali Fallen out with Attijari? The impoundment of hotels has become quite the fashion in Tunisia. After a dispute between STB and the Boujbel group revealed by Maghreb Confidential (MC 905), the Attijari bank has moved to seize a hotel establishment. (...)  [187 words]  [$5.4] MAGHREB CONFIDENTIAL  n°914 - 18/02/2010 LIBYA US Investors Rev Up their Harleys A major American trade delegation is due to visit Tripoli. After a stopover in Algiers (between Feb. 17-20) the four companies will arrive in Tripoli on Feb. (...)  [204 words]  [$5.4] MAGHREB CONFIDENTIAL  n°913 - 11/02/2010 MOROCCO Sitail Takes Bigger Bite of Les Afriques A lot of bargaining has taken place in recent days between shareholders of the publication Les Afriques and, according to our sources, the outcome could well be that Abderrazak Sitail will end up controlling two thirds of the publication’s equity. (...)  [200 words]  [$5.4] MAGHREB CONFIDENTIAL  n°913 - 11/02/2010 ALGERIA Southern France SMEs on Offensive Small and medium sized companies in the Provence-French Riviera region are making a fresh assault on the Algerian market under the banner of Finances & Conseil Mediterranee (FCI). (...)  [197 words]  [$5.4] MAGHREB CONFIDENTIAL  n°913 - 11/02/2010 TUNISIA Immoconsult Helps to Claim Property A new business has sprung up in Tunisia that entails recovering “abandoned property” on behalf of owners living abroad. Born in Sfax and now established in France, Victor Cohen has just won a green light to inaugurate Immoconsult Tunisie, a firm to help owners (or, more often, their heirs) who left the country at its independence to recover property they abandoned or left in escheat. (...)  [162 words]  [$5.4] MAGHREB CONFIDENTIAL  n°913 - 11/02/2010 TUNISIA Sellami & Friaa in Solar Energy Play The boss of the OneTech group, businessman Moncef Sellami, spies a lot of opportunities in the solar energy field. (...)  [199 words]  [FREE] MAGHREB CONFIDENTIAL  n°913 - 11/02/2010 LIBYA Areva, CEA and NucAdvisor Line Up The French nuclear industry is limbering up for what could be a tough competition. In a hurry to build a nuclear power station, Tripoli issued two invitations to tender on Feb. (...)  [216 words]  [$5.4] MAGHREB CONFIDENTIAL  n°913 - 11/02/2010 LIBYA Zackheos’ Double Hat A special envoy for Arab matters on the Cypriot president’s staff, Sotos Zackheos cultivated his Libyan connections during a visit to Tripoli in early February. (...)  [212 words]  [$5.4] MAGHREB CONFIDENTIAL  n°912 - 04/02/2010 TUNISIA A “Leila University” Soon to Open Doors? Is the close-down of the Universite Libre de Tunis on Jan. 25 a prelude to the inauguration of a future Leila Ben Ali university? Since the first private higher education establishment in Tunisia, founded in 1973 by Mohamed Bouebdelli was “suspended” - until 2014 - by the higher education ministry, the wife of president Ben Ali has been pressing ahead with her project of private university at Carthage, according to our sources. (...)  [594 words]  [$9.5] MAGHREB CONFIDENTIAL  n°912 - 04/02/2010 MOROCCO ONCF Optimistic Despite the Risks The current year could prove highly risky for the Moroccan railway company Office National des Chemins de Fer (ONCF). (...)  [242 words]  [$5.4] MAGHREB CONFIDENTIAL  n°912 - 04/02/2010 ALGERIA Hached Tipped as New Sonatrach Boss The Sonatrach affair is still very much on the boil because one of its former bosses, Hocine Malta, has alerted the secret service, Departement du Renseignement et de la Securite, about other cases of alleged corruption. (...)  [217 words]  [$5.4] MAGHREB CONFIDENTIAL  n°912 - 04/02/2010 ALGERIA “Green” Money for Algeria? Will the Global Environment Facility’s buckets of money contain some funding for Algeria? A co-financing system that sprang from the Rio convention, and to which 190 countries subscribe, the fund functions alongside other major donors (such as the World Bank and European Investment Bank) and could step up its operations in Algeria in coming years. (...)  [197 words]  [FREE] MAGHREB CONFIDENTIAL  n°912 - 04/02/2010 TUNISIA Tax Cuts for Trabelsi and Miled An article in Tunisia’s budget for 2010 undoubtedly warmed the hearts of Belhassen Trabelsi and Aziz Miled. (...)  [182 words]  [$5.4] MAGHREB CONFIDENTIAL  n°912 - 04/02/2010 TUNISIA Foothold in France for Somatra-Get The long-established Tunisian public construction company Societe Generale d’Entreprises de Materiel et de Travaux (Somatra-Get), headed by Mongi Makni, has landed its first contract in France. (...)  [169 words]  [$5.4] MAGHREB CONFIDENTIAL  n°912 - 04/02/2010 LIBYA De Capoa a Pathfinder for Italians Italian businessmen are pushing ahead with their charm offensive in Libya. On Jan. 23, 68 Italian firms were in Tripoli to familiarize themselves with Libya’s business environment. (...)  [196 words]  [$5.4]   MCE  n°917 - 11/03/2010 FRANCE/LIBYA Thibaud Chauvin The French wood industry is seeking outlets in Libya. French Timber, an association (...)  [86 words]  [$1.8] MCE  n°917 - 11/03/2010 ALGERIA Maurice Freund The boss of Point Afrique, Maurice Freund, has run into major problems with his char (...)  [80 words]  [$1.8] MCE  n°917 - 11/03/2010 TUNISIA Mourad Gueddiche According to our sources, Mourad Gueddiche plans to shortly inaugurate a private rad (...)  [103 words]  [$1.8] MCE  n°917 - 11/03/2010 TUNISIA Giovanni Ottati Contrary to what we reported in our Feb. 25 issue (MC 915), VueTel Tunisia is not an (...)  [151 words]  [$1.8] MCE  n°916 - 04/03/2010 TUNISIA Skander Boukhari Tunisia’s private health sector (MC 908) is continuing to develop at break-neck spee (...)  [63 words]  [$1.8] MCE  n°916 - 04/03/2010 LIBYA Hamed Al Houderi The boss of Libya's Economic and Social Development Fund (ESDF), Hamed Al Houderi, i (...)  [104 words]  [$1.8] MCE  n°916 - 04/03/2010 TUNISIA Nazeh Ben Ammar The president of the Tunisian American Chamber of Commerce (TACC) is going to have t (...)  [132 words]  [$1.8] MCE  n°916 - 04/03/2010 UNITED STATES/LIBYA Nicole Lamb-Hale The new deputy under-secretary at the U.S. Commerce Department, Nicole Lamb-Hale, ha (...)  [91 words]  [$1.8] MCE  n°915 - 25/02/2010 FRANCE/MAGHREB Emmanuel Hoog The president of France’s Institut National de l’Audiovisuel (INA), Emmanuel Hoog, i (...)  [120 words]  [$1.8] MCE  n°915 - 25/02/2010 TUNISIA Jamel Eddine Limam A former striker for Tunisia’s national football team, Jamel Eddine Limam, has turne (...)  [93 words]  [$1.8] MCE  n°915 - 25/02/2010 TUNISIA Zeid Oueslati The managing director of Tuninvest, plans to attend the Forum for Financial Innovati (...)  [97 words]  [$1.8] MCE  n°915 - 25/02/2010 TUNISIA Abou Hafs Amor Najai The Zitouna bank, latest project of Sakher el Materi, has just reshuffled its manage (...)  [89 words]  [$1.8] MCE  n°914 - 18/02/2010 FRANCE/MOROCCO Jean-Pierre Chiavola The competiveness cluster Derbi, which specializes in renewable energy, was out in f (...)  [109 words]  [$1.8] MCE  n°914 - 18/02/2010 TUNISIA Houssem Trabelsi The nephew of Leila Ben Ali also improvises as an impresario. (...)  [146 words]  [$1.8] MCE  n°914 - 18/02/2010 MOROCCO Jamila Arif Maroc Vert, a new monthly specializing in the environment, will shortly appear on th (...)  [40 words]  [$1.8] MCE  n°914 - 18/02/2010 TUNISIA Belhassen Trabelsi Will the boss of the Karthago group buy out the Hannibal TV channel? (...)  [113 words]  [$1.8] MCE  n°913 - 11/02/2010 FRANCE/NORTH AFRICA Nicolas Sarkis Even though the North African countries are only beginning to display an interest in (...)  [151 words]  [$1.8] MCE  n°913 - 11/02/2010 TUNISIA Moez Trabelsi The son of Moncef Trabelsi (and nephew of Leila Ben Ali) is continuing to make headw (...)  [85 words]  [$1.8] MCE  n°913 - 11/02/2010 FRANCE/LIBYA Pierre Berger The president and chief executive of Vinci Constructions Grands Projects, Pierre Ber (...)  [44 words]  [$1.8] MCE  n°913 - 11/02/2010 TUNISIA Akram Ben Ayed One of the three Ben Ayed brothers who founded the Batam group (a retail firm that c (...)  [65 words]  [$1.8] MCE  n°913 - 11/02/2010 CANADA/ALGERIA Pierre Hotte The international director of Dessau, Pierre Hotte, has just landed a major contract (...)  [60 words]  [$1.8] MCE  n°912 - 04/02/2010 TUNISIA/FRANCE Adel Oueslati A Tunisian businessman established in France, Adel Oueslati, is preparing to start u (...)  [91 words]  [$1.8]