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Egypt’s Naeem Capital Among Aston Martin Bidders | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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DUBAI(Reuters) – Naeem Capital, a unit of an Egyptian investment bank, is among companies that have made final bids for the Aston Martin luxury car business of Ford Motor Co., a Naeem Capital official said on Tuesday.

The U.S. carmaker is set to receive more than 450 million pounds ($880 million) for Aston Martin, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Feb. 6.

Naeem Capital, the private equity arm of Naeem Holding, plans partly to finance the acquisition through a transaction that complies with Islamic law, which bans lending on interest, the official, who asked not to be named, said.

“Naeem Capital is among the final bidders with their UK and U.S. technical partners,” the official said, adding Ford was expected to announce its decision in the coming days.

The official declined to say how much Naeem had offered.

UK-based private equity firm Doughty Hanson and Syrian-born property tycoon Simon Halabi submitted second-round offers for Aston Martin in an auction being run by investment bank UBS AG, the sources said earlier this month.

Ford said last year it would sell all or part of Aston Martin to raise funds for other businesses.

Aston Martin is on solid financial footing, a top Ford official said last month, adding sales of the British car made famous by the James Bond spy movies increased by around half last year to about 6,500 units.