Al Anwar Holdings, one of the leading investment-holding firms in the country, has received approvals from the Central Bank of Oman (CBO) and the Capital Market Authority (CMA) to raise its stake in Taageer Finance Company to 30 per cent from 20 per cent. 


The financial services sector is our main focus for investment. Keeping this in mind, we are planning to raise our stake in Taageer Finance. We are the single largest shareholder in Taageer Finance now,” Krishnakumar Gupta, chief executive officer of All Anwar Holdings told Muscat Daily. 


Taageer Finance, the youngest leasing firm in the sultanate, last week reported a 10.6 per cent fall in net profit at RO1.5mn for the first nine months of 2009 from

the year-ago period. Gupta said that his company would acquire additional shares in Taageer Finance either through a negotiated deal with an existing shareholder or from the market. “There could be some investors who want to sell their holding [in the company]. We don't have a specified time frame within which we have to buy the shares,” he noted. 

He said that as part of the strategy, the company has acquired 14.99 per cent stake in India's Al Mondz Global Securities, a leading investment bank specialised in debt placement, more than a year ago. Al Mondz Global has a wide range of portfolio, including merchant banking, loan syndication and stock broking. “We are realigning our investment book.”

Elaborating their investment strategy, he said the company has two types of investments – long-term strategic investments in financial services firms and private equity investments in manufacturing companies. Al Anwar promotes manufacturing units and when the units reach certain level of growth, the company divests its holding in favour of investing public through an initial public offering or sell its stake to another investor through a negotiated deal. “We divest our stake at an appropriate time, when the investment matures.” 


“We have sold our 31 per cent stake in National Aluminium Products Company (Napco) to National Investment Fund almost seven to eight months ago.” 

And the remaining 20 per cent holding in Napco was sold in the open market last week. Meanwhile, Al Anwar Holdings on Thursday announced a 24.2 per cent fall in net profit at RO3.05mn for the six-month period ending September 2009, over the same period last year. Of this, 52 per cent was on account of partial divestment of the Napco stake.

Al Anwar's subsidiary companies are Sun Packaging and Al Anwar Securities and Al Anwar International Investments, while its associates include Voltamp Energy, Falcon Insurance and Al Maha Ceramics. Al Anwar's earnings per share fell to 54 baizas by September-end, 2009, from 74 baizas in the same period last year.