North Africa/Middle East

Iranian group Tadbir Energy will submit a bid for the Petit-Couronne oil refinery from insolvent owner Petroplus at a court hearing on Tuesday, French daily Le Figaro said, without citing its sources. Tadbir Energy, a unit of the Imam Khomeini foundation, will offer to buy France's oldest refinery with a guarantee to keep the 550 staff it employs, the paper added. Iranian oil imports are forbidden since July in the European Union, the paper said.

Kuwaiti firm Global Investment House’s decision to use the UK courts could set a new precedent for debt restructuring in the Gulf as the company bypasses Kuwaiti law to push through its second debt deal in three years, the Financial Times reported. The Gulf company is the first to try to use a London court “scheme” to force a minority of creditors to accept the terms of its new $1.7bn restructuring plan, which aims to grant creditors a 70 per cent stake in the investment company.

Kuwait's Global Investment House secured backing from the majority of bank creditors for its restructuring on Monday, a move the debt-laden firm hopes will be a significant step in ending its financial troubles, Reuters reported. The Kuwaiti investment company and asset manager, undergoing its second debt restructuring in three years, may be able to implement the plan as soon as next week if it wins the approval of a High Court of Justice in London scheduled for Dec. 3.

Kuwait's Global Investment House , buffeted by a real estate slump and market turbulence, posted further losses on Tuesday and said it had yet to persuade a handful of creditors to back a second debt restructuring in three years. The company, whose major shareholders include the governments of Kuwait and Dubai, lost 14.9 million dinars ($52.8 million) in the three months to Sept. 30 versus a 15.5 million dinars loss for the same period of 2011, Reuters calculated based on a statement to the London Stock Exchange.

Bahrain-based Arcapita Bank gained court approval on Wednesday for a $125 million bankruptcy loan from Fortress Investment Group, believed to be the first such loan consistent with sharia, Islamic law, Reuters reported. The loan, approved by Judge Sean Lane in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in White Plains, New York, will fund Arcapita as it tries to restructure debt after filing for bankruptcy in March. Wednesday's hearing was delayed two hours as Arcapita, its creditors and Fortress negotiated over the price of the deal, Dennis Dunne, a lawyer for Arcapita's creditors' committee, told the judge.

Netoil Inc., a Dubai-based company, has submitted a revised offer for insolvent Petroplus Holdings AG’s Petit-Couronne refinery in Normandy, France, teaming up with BP Plc., Bloomberg Businessweek reported. “We didn’t have a supplier before, now, we have a letter of intent from BP to supply 120,000 barrels of crude a day to the refinery for a three-year period,” Roger Tamraz, Netoil’s chairman, said today in a telephone interview from Paris.

Saudi construction company Mohammed al-Mojil Group, due to hold an emergency meeting on Monday to discuss breaking up, on Saturday reported a third quarter loss of 33.8 million riyals ($9 million) as project revenue faltered, Reuters reported. The contractor said in September its liabilities exceeded its assets and shareholders were left with a deficit of 279.8 million riyals after it ran into problems on some large contracts. Accumulated losses in September also exceeded 75 percent of MMG's capital, forcing it to call an emergency meeting to discuss whether the company should be dissolved.

Dana Gas, a Sharjah-based energy company with operations in the United Arab Emirates, Iraq and Egypt, said Thursday it failed to pay back a $920 million Islamic bond, or sukuk, that came due on Wednesday, The Wall Street Journal reported. The company is in discussions with holders of the debt to amend the terms of the sukuk and extend its maturity, according to a statement posted on the Abu Dhabi bourse website. Dana has a three-day grace period before it can officially be declared in default, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Limitless, a Dubai-based property developer, has received full agreement from its bank lenders to restructure a $1.2 billion Islamic loan, the company said on Thursday. The company has made all profit payments on the loan since signing it in 2008, Limitless said in an emailed statement, and would continue to do so under the new agreement. Limitless, which had received several maturity extensions from banks as the restructuring talks continued, didn’t say how long it was given to pay back the loan under the deal or what rates it would pay.

Plans agreed between Zabeel Investments and its creditors to restructure individual loans included in around USD 1.6bn of liabilities have been overturned as Wasl Asset Management tries to renegotiate terms, according to two creditors, the Financial Times reported on a dealReporter story. The move has led one lender, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB), to begin legal action, they claimed. ADCB was expected to file its case in mid-September, the creditors said, without providing details of the nature of the action.