TUNIS, Nov 9 , a diversified holdings firm, plans to invest $200 million in the Maghreb region, its managing director said on Friday.
"We are looking at several investment opprtunities in the region, mainly in Algeria and Tunisia," Faisal al-Ayyar told Reuters on the sidelines of an investment conference in Tunis.
KIPCO, which manages more than $18 billion in assets, is expecting to take part in privatisation bids and other investment ventures in the region ranging from real estate to banking and other financial services, he added.
Ayyar named Tunisian state-owned insurance company Star, which is slated for sale to private investors, as one of the investment projects in which KIPCO is interested.
"We are eyeing to invest in the region in several sectors in the near future. We plan to invest about $200 milion," he added, without giving more details.
Investors from the oil-rich Gulf region had pledged to pour huge money in the Mahgreb in the lastest few years, dwarfing European investors -- traditional sources of investment in the Maghreb over the last four decades.
Dubai's Emaar Properties , the largest Arab property developer by market value, is among the ambitious investors in Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia and Libya where it plans to build a residential and industrial zone straddling Zowara and Abou Kemash, near the Libyan border with Tunisia.
United Arab Emirates's Aldar Properties unveiled a plan to invest $5.5 billion in Tunisia, through its Al Maabar subsidiary.
Sama Dubai, the property unit of Dubai Holding, will invest $14 billion in a luxury real estate development north of Tunis, including apartments, theatres, cinemas, offices and hotels covering 837 hectares .
Dubai's Tecom-Dig bought a 35 percent stake in Tunisia's largest telecoms operator Tunisie Telecom for $2.34 billion last year.
Tecom-Dig's managing director Mustapha Farid said on Friday the group plans to list Tunisie Telecom on Tunis stock market sometime in the near future.
"We are to list on the Tunis bourse but first we will make the company strong enough to bring profit to the market and small investors," he told Reuters on the sidelines of Tunis's investment Economic Forum on Friday.
He added:"Now, we focus on investing in infrastructure and improving our offer".