Dubai's Majid Al Futtaim says to wait for stability in Egypt, Syria before investing | Reuters

Dubai's Majid Al Futtaim says to wait for stability in Egypt, Syria before investing | Reuters:

"Dubai's Majid Al Futtaim Holding (MAF), the sole franchisee of hypermarket chain Carrefour (CARR.PA) in the Middle East, will not pursue investments in Egypt and Syria until stability returns to the two countries, a senior company official said on Saturday.

MAF, also the only Carrefour franchisee in North Africa and Central Asia, had been in advanced talks to buy Egypt's largest supermarket chain Metro from the family-owned Mansour Group, sources told Reuters in April.

"Egypt is still unstable, we are waiting for it to settle down but we are still in negotiations. As for Syria, any investor will hold back. It's not good to move forward now with the revolution going on," Younus al Mulla, MAF's senior vice president for retail international development, told reporters at the opening of a new Carrefour hypermarket near Abu Dhabi.

MAF had also been eyeing a major investment in Syria before the 2011 uprising, and one Carrefour store in Aleppo was shut down as a result of the violence."

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