Banque Audi's plans to buy a majority stake in Lebanese brokerage firm Financial Funds Advisors appear to have ended in failure, a source close to the talks told Tuesday.
"The talks did not produce positive results despite attempts to narrow the differences," the source said, adding that some of FFA's clients were concerned about the effects of being taken over by Audi.
Declining to elaborate on the talks, the source said that some FFA clients expressed fears that Audi might disrupt their relationship with the brokerage firm, which recorded a net profit of nearly $700,000 last year.
However, an official at Audi was quoted by the daily as saying the talks with FFA were still going on. "Audi is still interested in FFA even if the talks have not achieved a major breakthrough yet," the official said.
Audi owns investment bank Lebanon Invest insurance firm Libano Arabe and seeks to acquire more successful firms in the Arab country – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
