Kuwait's Kipco not in talks to sell industrial stake

Kuwait Projects Co (Kipco), the country's biggest investment firm by assets, on Sunday denied a newspaper report that it was in talks with a European investor to sell its stake in a Kuwaiti industrial firm. "The company's negotiations of selling a stake in a listed industrial company through Kuwait National Industrial Projects Co is false," said Kipco in a statement released to the bourse.

On Sunday, a local daily said that Kipco is in talks to sell its 18.4 per cent stake in an unidentified listed industrial company, citing sources familiar with the matter. In September, Kipco said it will sell a 39.2 per cent stake in Gulf Insurance Co to Canada's Fairfax Financial Holdings for $208.6 million. Kipco shares, which were halted earlier on the report, resumed trading and were down 1 per cent at 0713 GMT on the Kuwait bourse.