Kuwait’s Aref buys 51% of Sudan’s Higleig oil services

Sept 11, 2006 (KUWAIT/KHARTOUM) — Kuwaiti Islamic investment firm Aref Investment Group is buying 51 percent of Sudan’s Higleig Petroleum Services and Investment Co for about $60 million, the company said on Monday.

Aref Investment said in a statement posted on the bourse web site on Monday that it would restructure Higleig, a private company involved in oil exploration, drilling, services and general contracting activities.

Aref Investment will also team up with other investors to buy a Sudanese river transport company for $15 million.

The Sudanese Second Vice President Ali Osman Taha received Monday a visiting Kuwaiti delegation, headed by Chairman of the Board of Directors of Aref Investment Group, Ali Fahad al-Zumaiye.

Taha affirmed importance of encouragement of investment and the removal of any difficulty that face the Kuwaiti investments in Sudan.

(Reuters/ST)