EcoloCap Solutions Inc. will be hosting representatives from four continents in Korea this November in the first ever public unveiling of the company’s M-Fuel product, an innovative suspension fuel for use in diesel engines. M-Fuel, developed and manufactured by MBT (Micro Bubble Technologies), a subsidiary of EcoloCap Solutions Inc., is an innovative suspension fuel that far exceeds efficiencies for all conventional fuels. This environmentally-friendly and economical product is designed to offer fully scalable and customizable fuel solutions that increase efficiency, lower operating costs, and reduce emissions.

M-Fuel is a suspension mixture of 60% heavy oil, and 40% separated hydrogen and oxygen, plus a stabilizing additive. Nano Processing Units (NPUs) produce the fuel and can be configured to be integrated with an engine, producing fuel on demand, or the fuel can be pre-manufactured for delivery.

The event in Korea, scheduled for November 18th, will have representatives from more than

...

Yesterday, Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. (JEC) and Office Cherifien Des Phosphates (OCP) entered into an engineering joint venture agreement.  The terms of agreement are not disclosed. However, during the initial phase, the joint venture will provide program, project management and engineering services for projects based on the US$5 billion investment program of Office Cherifien in Morocco.  The agreement, when completed, will represent a powerful combination of engineering and program management resources aligned to support OCP in implementing its strategic expansion plans, in particular the infrastructural elements of the Jorf Lasfar phosphate hub development.  It will also advance Jacobs’ growth plans in the fertilizer industry in general and in the region in particular. The joint venture will provide services to OCP and third parties in their phosphate engineering business activities worldwide. In addition, the parties intend to expand the capabilities of the joint venture to ...

National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD), the country’s second-biggest bank by assets ($45 billion), will open branches in Jordan and Hong Kong before the year’s end, given the fact that there exists a strong contingent of citizens from said countries in the UAE. The Bank will also expand into Libya (one branch next year), Oman (three branches by 2010) and Egypt (twenty-two branches by 2013), according to Qamber al-Mulla, senior general manager, International Banking Division, who noted that further growth may lead the firm into the banking sectors of Morocco, Algeria, Lebanon and Turkey. The Bank beat analysts’ estimates earlier this week when it reported a 9.5% drop in second-quarter profit. Moreover, it told Bloomberg that it expects its loan book to grow to 15% in 2009 after a rise of 11.1% between June and December. That said, non-performing loans (NPL) across Gulf banks

...

According to Silk Invest, much of the reason that “institutional investors started coming back [late last week] into the [Casablanca All Share Index] after a few weeks spent on the sidelines” was due to the announcement recently made by Central Bank governor Abdellatif Jouahri, who reiterated that the country’s banking sector hasd not been affected by the financial crisis given the sector’s limited exposure to foreign markets, and moreover that the banking system’s “resilience” is a “result of an ongoing reforms process.”  Moroccan credit growth increased 23% in 2008, and 17% this year to May.

Four banks lead the fray in Morocco: domestic players Attijariwafa Bank and BMCE (Banque Marocaine du Commerce Exterieur) Bank, as well as BMCI and Crédit du Maroc (subsidiaries of France’s BNP Group and Crédit Agricole, respectively).  Only the first two, however, are discussed as having continent-wide

...

It’s possible that no concept in history has ever come so far, so fast, and with so little substance behind it, as “global warming.” Or, to be precise, anthropogenic global warming(AGW) – the kind caused by us puny humans rather than by that fireball that keeps the planet habitable.

We’re extraordinarily lucky. If present thinking is correct, the first single-celled living organisms may have appeared as much as 3½ billion years ago, and it would appear that once life arrived, it never went away. That’s a very long time for conditions to have remained favorable enough to keep the chain from breaking.

As the eons unspooled, Earth’s climate varied, sometimes wildly. It has been much hotter than it is today, and much colder. (One current theory holds that the average surface temperature has regularly oscillated between 120° and -50°F.) Nearly all of the changes have been due to variations, some

...

Banque Attijari de Tunisie, or the Attijari Bank, the Tunisian branch of Morocco’s Attijariwafa Bank (NYSE:ATW)–Morocco’s leading banking and financial services group and the seventh-largest bank in Africa in terms of total assets–surpassed the Banque Internationale Arabe de Tunisie in 2008 to become the country’s second most profitable bank behind Bank of Tunisia. Among other impressive figures, Attijari saw growth in interest margin (+30.6%), the margin on commissions (+11.9%) and income on its securities portfolio (+20.4%). Additionally, the institution’s turnover reached 220.30 million dinars, a 21.7% increase, while gross operating income was up 44.5% to 60 million dinars. Deposits, meanwhile, increased by 24.1% to a rate greater than loans disbursed (1.96 billion dinars, 15.2%). And the total balance sheet of the bank increased by 19.9% to 2.83 billion dinars. Moncef Chaffar, Chairman of the

...

The Silk Invest Magreb team spent a very constructive day visiting existing and potential investment in Cassablanca. The whole economy is still growing strongly and optimism is in start contrast to developed markets. The purchasing power of the lage farming sector has been boosted by record rains and hence crop yiels. Morocco's production of soft wheat, durum wheat and barley has doubled. br /br /At the same time, Morocco is still seeing direct investment from Gulf countries and asset sales by the government. Indeed, the whole Silk route theme is very strong. Firms like Maroc Telekom and Attijariwafa bank, the two largest companies, are expanding into Africa. For example, Maroc Telekom owns majority stakes in Gabon Telekom and Burkina Faso's Onatel.br /br /We did witness some weaknesses. These include the high unemployment, rapid growth in banking loan books and the 'informal' sector of the economy. ...

We visited Moroccan property developer Addoha. The company is Morocco's leading real estate firm that benefits from the government-backed social housing drive. The recent boom in leisure, hotel and high-end housing projects is driving earnings forward. br /br /We were particularly impressed with the company's one-stop-shop, where all the services requires to buy a house are under one roof (including credit assessment and legal). Clearly, something banks and/or property developers can learn from wherever they are in the world.div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='http://res1.blogblog.com/tracker/3742382075154765669-8642639634465920819?l=danfonds.blogspot.com'//div

London-based Silk Invest Ltd just announced the successful launch of both its Luxembourg domiciled African Lions Fund and Arab Falcons Fund (see charted performance against relevant indices hitherto below).  Per one report, the new funds are being aimed at European fund of fund managers (though the firm ultimately seeks to target “more traditional investors such as pension funds”), and will be capped at $500m.

Touting the funds, Silk CIO Daniel Broby noted that African and Arab countries “have restructured their economies and are best positioned to profit from the next stage of globalization.”  Further, he added, “we have a generational opportunity in frontier markets; industrialization is coming to the final places in the world where it hasn’t come yet – namely Africa and the Arab world.”

Both funds will limit exposure to individual countries as well as individual sectors to 25%. Broby remarked that the African fund ...

Brasseries du Maroc is a Morocco-based company engaged in the beverage industry. It is specialized in the production and distribution of beer and a range of fizzy drinks. The stock trading on a 2008 PER of 17x with a yield of 5.9%.br /br /Brasseries du Maroc just reported a 6% rise in sales to MD 2.09bn and operating profit up 11% at MD 494m. The company is bravely increasing its dividend by 23% on flat Profit after tax, the equivalent to a 100% payout ratio.div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='http://res1.blogblog.com/tracker/3742382075154765669-1280311347065801945?l=danfonds.blogspot.com'//div