Saudi Zain in Credit Talks After Missing Commitments

* username: rupertbu

Zain Saudi Arabia <7030.SE>, the kingdom's newest mobile phone operator, said on Saturday it is in talks with lenders after missing some commitments last year on a two-year $2.5-billion Islamic loan.

The Saturday announcement by the firm -- 25-percent owned by Kuwait's Zain -- is a fresh reminder that Gulf Arab corporate debt problems could be far from being over at a time when economies in the region hope that 2010 will be a year of recovery.

Investor confidence in the region has been hit over the past eight months by up to $22 billion of debt restructurings at two prominent groups and more recently by Dubai World's request for a standstill on $26 billion worth of debt.