Egypt's Oriental Weavers to buy 3 Belgian factories

CAIRO, Oct 25 (Reuters) - Egypt's Oriental Weavers (ORWE.CA) plans to acquire three Belgian textile factories to benefit from their machinery and equipment, Egypt's Al-Mal financial newspaper said on Sunday.

Oriental Weavers, the world's biggest machine-woven carpet producer, will sign the acquisition contracts before the end of the year, the newspaper said. It added that Chief Executive Officer Mohamed Khamis did not disclose the acquisition cost.

The purpose of the investment is to utilise the factories' machinery and equipment, which Oriental Weavers will move to its Egyptian factories after signing the contracts, the newspaper said.

Half of the venture will be financed through debt, while Oriental Weavers will cover the rest, Al Mal quoted Khamis as saying.

Oriental Weavers' officials were not immediately available for comment.

Oriental Weavers posted a 5 percent rise net income for the first half of 2009 with net income after minority interest of 162.7 million Egyptian pounds ($30 million), compared to 154.3 million pounds in the same period of 2008.

The company exports its carpets to over 100 countries. ($1 = 5.4662 Egyptian pounds; Editing by Sugita Katyal) (Writing by Shaimaa Fayed)