DUBAI: Kuwait Projects Co. (KIPCO), the Gulf state’s largest investment company, has hired Goldman Sachs to advise it on the sale of its majority stake in pay-television operator OSN, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.
OSN, which this year signed its first partnership deal in the region with Netflix, reported income of 12.38 million dinars ($40.7 million) for the period from July 1 to August 8, according to KIPCO’s latest financial results.
KIPCO and Goldman Sachs declined to comment.
KIPCO said in the results, released last week, that the company’s board had approved initiating a plan to divest its 60.5 percent equity interest in Panther Media Group, also known as OSN, and had engaged an international investment banker for the purpose. It did not disclose the name of the banker.
Dubai-based OSN has been facing fierce competition in a changing entertainment landscape that has involved a move away from traditional paid television providers.
With the rights to broadcast into countries across the Middle East and North Africa, OSN has more than 180 channels, according to its website. Its other shareholder is Mawarid Group.
OSN faces subdued demand in its core markets due to piracy, geopolitical factors and fiscal reforms by governments which have led to sizeable expatriate populations leaving some of its core markets, said Anuj Rohtagi, director of group financial control at KIPCO in KIPCO’s third-quarter earnings conference call on Nov. 15. He added OSN was taking action to cut costs and attract new customers.
It is not the first time KIPCO has explored offloading at least some of its stake in OSN. In 2014, it said it planned to start the process for an initial public offering of OSN shares.
Kuwait Projects Co. hires Goldman Sachs for sale of OSN — sources
Kuwait Projects Co. hires Goldman Sachs for sale of OSN — sources
European gas prices soar almost 50% as Iran conflict halts Qatar LNG output
- Analysts warn prolonged disruption could push prices higher
- Some shipments of oil, LNG through Strait of Hormuz suspended
- Benchmark Asian LNG price up almost 39 percent
LONDON: Benchmark Dutch and British wholesale gas prices soared by almost 50 percent on Monday, after major liquefied natural gas exporter Qatar Energy said it had halted production due to attacks in the Middle East.
Qatar, soon to cement its role as the world’s second largest LNG exporter after the US, plays a major role in balancing both Asian and European markets’ demand of LNG.
Most tanker owners, oil majors and trading houses have suspended crude oil, fuel and liquefied natural gas shipments via the Strait of Hormuz, trade sources said, after Tehran warned ships against moving through the waterway.
Europe has increased imports of LNG over the past few years as it seeks to phase out Russian gas following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Around 20 percent of the world’s LNG transits through the Strait of Hormuz and a prolonged suspension or full closure would increase global competition for other sources of the gas, driving up prices internationally.
“Disruptions to LNG flows would reignite competition between Asia and Europe for available cargoes,” said Massimo Di Odoardo, vice president, gas and LNG research at Wood Mackenzie.
The Dutch front-month contract at the TTF hub, seen as a benchmark price for Europe, was up €14.56 at €46.52 per megawatt hour, or around $15.92/mmBtu, by 12:55 p.m. GMT, ICE data showed.
Prices were already some 25 percent higher earlier in the day but extended gains after QatarEnergy’s production halt.
Benchmark Asian LNG prices jumped almost 39 percent on Monday morning with the S&P Global Energy Japan-Korea-Marker, widely used as an Asian LNG benchmark, at $15.068 per million British thermal units, Platts data showed.
“If LNG/gas markets start to price in an extended period of losses to Qatari LNG supply, TTF could potentially spike to 80-100 euros/MWh ($28-35/mmBtu),” Warren Patterson, head of commodities strategy at ING, said. The British April contract was up 40.83 pence at 119.40 pence per therm, ICE data showed.
Europe is also relying on LNG imports to help fill its gas storage sites which have been depleted over the winter and are currently around 30 percent full, the latest data from Gas Infrastructure Europe showed. In the European carbon market, the benchmark contract was down €1.10 at €69.17 a tonne
