DUBAI, Oct 12 (Reuters) – Telecom operator Zain Saudi made another loss in the third quarter, missing forecasts and pushing the company closer to a capital restructuring to keep it within limits required by the bourse.

The results push accumulated losses at Zain Saudi, which is 25-percent owned by Kuwait’s Zain , to about 9.2 billion riyals ($2.5 billion), or 66 percent of its paid-up capital. Bourse rules say listed firms must cut their capital if losses exceed 75 percent, cancelling some of the accumulated losses.

Zain Saudi has been in the news in recent weeks when a $950 million deal to sell Zain’s quarter stake in the Saudi firm fell apart in September, and on Tuesday its chief executive, Saad al-Barrak, resigned.

“Zain Saudi needs to complete the restructuring sooner rather than later, and Barrak’s departure may pave the way for this,” said Asim Bukhtiar, Riyad Capital head of research.

“Once this happens, investors can focus on Zain Saudi’s results. We expect the company to turn profitable in 2013. If it can achieve this sooner, then the share price should respond.”

Zain Saudi shares were down 0.84 percent at 1018 GMT, taking their losses to 24 percent in 2011.

The telecom operator reported a net loss of 484 million riyals in the quarter ended Sept. 30, compared with 544 million riyals a year earlier.

DUBAI, Oct 11 (Reuters) – Saad al-Barrak has resigned as telecoms operator Zain Saudi’s chief executive to be replaced by a U.S.-educated veteran from its parent Zain, two weeks after a consortium withdrew plans to buy a 25 percent stake in the Saudi unit.

Khalid Al-Omar, CEO of Zain’s operations in Kuwait, will also take over as chief executive and managing director of Zain Saudi with immediate effect, the company said in a statement to the Saudi bourse.

Badr al-Kharafi, a member of the Kharafi family that is a major shareholder in Kuwait-based parent Zain , has also been appointed to the board of the Saudi unit.

“Relations between the Kharafi family and Barrak haven’t been good for the past few years,” said Nadine Ghobrial, EFG-Hermes telecoms analyst.

Barrak, who was formerly CEO of the wider Zain group, was the architect of Zain’s acquisition spree which was put into reverse in recent years as the Kharafi family sought to cash in those assets.

Bahrain Telecommunications Co and Kingdom Holding withdrew a joint $950 million bid for the 25-percent stake owned by Kuwait’s Zain in late September, more than six months after initial terms were agreed, while Barrak also tried to put together his own consortium to buy out Zain and allow him to remain in charge.

This protracted deal stalled Zain Saudi’s capital restructuring plan to accommodate about $2.3 billion in accumulated losses, while its debts top $5.5 billion according to first-quarter results.

DUBAI, Oct 11 (Reuters) – Saad al-Barrak has resigned as telecoms operator Zain Saudi’s chief executive, the company said on Tuesday, two weeks after a consortium withdrew plans to buy a 25-percent stake.

Khaled bin Suleiman Al-Omar will take over as acting chief executive, pending the appointment of Badr bin Nasser al-Kharafi as permanent CEO if shareholders approve, the company said in a statement to the Saudi bourse.

Bahrain Telecommunications Co and Kingdom Holding withdrew a joint $950 million bid for a 25 percent stake owned by Kuwait’s Zain last month, while al-Barrak also tried to put together his own consortium to buy out Zain and allow him to remain in charge.

Barrak was also the former chief executive of Zain and was the architect of Zain’s rapid expansion in the previous decade, when Zain claimed to be the fourth largest telecoms carrier globally, with operations in 23 countries.

Zain has since retrenched to become a seven-licence carrier, selling its African operations to India’s Bharti Airtel for $9 billion in 2010, with indebted shareholder the Kharafi Group seen as the main driver for this change in strategy.

Kharafi also failed in two attempts to sell controlling stakes in Zain, first to an Indian-led consortium and then to UAE’s Etisalat .

A condition of the proposed deal with Etisalat was for Zain to first sell its stake in Zain Saudi since Etisalat is already active in Saudi Arabia through its affiliate Mobily .

KUWAIT/DUBAI, Oct 5 (Reuters) – Kuwait’s stock market regulator, touted as the saviour of an exchange plagued by a lack of transparency, has created disarray with new rules and management missteps that have pushed the share index to seven-year lows and prompted staff of the bourse to threaten a strike.

The Capital Markets Authority (CMA) was formally launched in March, more than 30 years after the Kuwait Stock Exchange was established. It is meant to provide a steadying hand for the Gulf’s third largest stock market in terms of capitalisation, after Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

Instead, it has been beset with problems, including controversy over reports in Kuwaiti newspapers last month saying three of its five original commissioners had been removed, allegedly for holding other jobs in violation of CMA regulations.

This raised questions about whether rules enacted under their tenure would be binding, after the trade ministry said such decisions were void.

The CMA, which declined to comment, has not announced any removal of commissioners and has been reluctant to make public statements. Analysts and traders say the uncertainty puts the CMA’s credibility on the line.

“The first issue is that there is little definition of policy — there’s a lack of clarity within the policies themselves,” said a Kuwait-based trader who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue.

“The CMA was established after a lot of the new laws were announced and have yet to be enforced, so investors don’t know whether they are doing things against the law or not. Will the new rules be retrospectively applied?”

KUWAIT/DUBAI, Oct 5 (Reuters) – Kuwait’s stock market regulator, touted as the saviour of an exchange plagued by a lack of transparency, has created disarray with new rules and management missteps that have pushed the share index to seven-year lows and prompted staff of the bourse to threaten a strike.

The Capital Markets Authority (CMA) was formally launched in March, more than 30 years after the Kuwait Stock Exchange was established. It is meant to provide a steadying hand for the Gulf’s third largest stock market in terms of capitalisation, after Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

Instead, it has been beset with problems, including controversy over reports in Kuwaiti newspapers last month saying three of its five original commissioners had been removed, allegedly for holding other jobs in violation of CMA regulations.

This raised questions about whether rules enacted under their tenure would be binding, after the trade ministry said such decisions were void.

The CMA, which declined to comment, has not announced any removal of commissioners and has been reluctant to make public statements. Analysts and traders say the uncertainty puts the CMA’s credibility on the line.

“The first issue is that there is little definition of policy — there’s a lack of clarity within the policies themselves,” said a Kuwait-based trader who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue.

“The CMA was established after a lot of the new laws were announced and have yet to be enforced, so investors don’t know whether they are doing things against the law or not. Will the new rules be retrospectively applied?”

DUBAI, Oct 4 (Reuters) – Kuwait’s National Mobile Telecommunications Co (Wataniya), which is majority-owned by Qatar Telecommunications (Qtel), plans to launch a dual listing on the Doha exchange by the year-end, its chief executive said on Tuesday.

“(The) Qatar listing is still on the cards, but has taken a bit of time because of issues between the exchanges. They have asked for more information,” Scott Gegenheimer told reporters on the sidelines of a conference. “It’s planned before the year-end.”

The dual listing is meant to give Qataris access to the company’s stock without going to the Kuwaiti market, said Gegenheimer.

The executive said Wataniya, which also operates in North Africa, the Maldives and the Palestinian Territories, still intended to launch an initial public offering for its private mobile operator, Tunisiana.

But the IPO is not a regulatory requirement, Gegenheimer said, adding that the company has not set a specific timeline for it as market conditions were still under review.

“In the past we talked about (floating) 10 to 15 percent, but no decision has been made,” Gegenheimer said.

An IPO for Tunisiana, founded in 2002 and the only private telecommunications firm in the North African state, had been touted in the first half of 2011 but plans were shelved due to regional unrest.

DUBAI, Oct 4 (Reuters) – Emirates Telecommunications Corp. (Etisalat) is open to partnerships or obtaining new licences as it seeks to expand into different markets, the United Arab Emirates carrier said on Tuesday.

Available mergers and acquisition opportunities are decreasing despite an ongoing need for consolidation within the industry, Ahmed bin Ali, Etisalat’s senior vice president for corporate communications, said on the sidelines of a business conference.

“Competition is healthy and good for customers but if we are overdoing it, it will be miserable for customers. Price wars (mean) less services will be introduced, less investment,” Ali said, adding that regulators can play a role in helping small players consolidate with other operators.

Ali said the company has enough reserve cash to buy another operator, if the opportunity meets its investment strategy.

But in the absence of consolidation opportunities, Ali said the company sees greenfield licences or partnerships as an ideal way to enter markets, such as Asia and Africa.

“There’s a chance of consolidation (but) if this is not available, the right model for most of the market is partnering or alliances between operators where they can benefit from economies of scale, resources and technology,” he said.

“Different operators in Asia and Africa can will be able to benefit from our experience.”

DUBAI, Sept 29 (Reuters) – Bahrain Telecommunications and Kingdom Holding have pulled out of a deal to buy a quarter of Saudi telco firm Zain Saudi for $950 million, saying proposed terms could not be met.

Batelco and Kingdom, the investment vehicle of Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, agreed in March to buy a stake in the indebted affiliate of Kuwaiti group Zain .

Delays in due diligence had already put the fate of the proposed acquisition in doubt.

“The consortium concluded that the terms and conditions as set out in its non binding offer could not be met to its satisfaction,” Batelco and Kingdom said on Thursday.

On Monday, Batelco chief executive Peter Kaliaropoulos had told Reuters he expected due diligence would be completed by the end of September.

Analysts have said a major impediment for the deal was Zain Saudi debt above $5.5 billion according to its first-quarter results. That included a $2.6 billion Islamic facility that can be rolled over until August 2012 and reported to be part-guaranteed by Zain, and $651 million owed to Zain.

Settling these liabilities to enable Zain to exit its unit were thought to be a major sticking point.

DUBAI (Reuters) – United Arab Emirates midfielder Theyab Awana, who became a Youtube celebrity after scoring a back-heeled penalty in an international against Lebanon, was killed in a car crash on Sunday, the country’s football association said on Monday.

Awana, 21, died following an accident in the UAE capital Abu Dhabi.

The national team had been preparing for a trip to Asia next month when news of Awana’s death broke.

“The whole team went today to the funeral, it was very sad,” UAE team administrator Ahmed Saeed told reporters.

“Everybody was shocked. His whole family was so proud of him. We will never forget him.”

Awana converted an audacious penalty in a 6-2 friendly win over Lebanon in July and the clip received more than 1.2 million hits on Youtube.

However, his coach Srecko Katanec did not see the funny side, substituting the player immediately after he scored and leaving him out of the line-up for the next match.

DUBAI, Sept 26 (Reuters) – United Arab Emirates midfielder Theyab Awana, who became a Youtube celebrity after scoring a back-heeled penalty in an international against Lebanon, was killed in a car crash on Sunday, the country’s football association said on Monday.

Awana, 21, died following an accident in the UAE capital Abu Dhabi.

He converted an audacious penalty in a 6-2 friendly win over Lebanon in July and the clip received more than 1.2 million hits on Youtube.

However, Awana’s coach Srecko Katanec did not see the funny side, substituting him immediately after he scored and leaving him out of the lineup for the next match.

The Baniyas midfielder played for the UAE in Wednesday’s 0-0 draw against Australia in an Olympic qualifier, but was injured and was due to have treatment on his injury this week.

“Awana was very honest, keen and committed to his duties. It’s a great loss for us, it is very painful news” Khalfan Al Rumaithi, president of the UAE FA, was quoted as saying on the association’s website.

Zhang Jilong, acting president of the Asian Football Confederation, also paid tribute to the player, saying he was saddened by his death.