Egypt-based El Sewedy Cables is in talks to buy 51.2 per cent of the Egyptian Company for Manufacturing Electrical Insulators (ECMEI), the firm said on Sunday.

Ahmed El-Homossani, El Sewedy's director of investor relations, told Reuters the negotiations were at a very early stage, declining to give more information.

ECMEI, which makes electrical porcelain insulators, says it has a 100 per cent market share in Egypt. It has an investment capital of 200 million Egyptian pounds ($37.42 million), according to its web site.

Shareholders in ECMEI include state-owned Holding Company for Egyptian Electricity, the Commercial International Bank (CIB), the National Bank of Egypt and the Arab African Investment Bank.

El Sewedy, the largest publicly traded Arab cable producer, said last week it would build a $150 million power cable plant in Qatar with a local partner to tap surging Gulf Arab infrastructure spending.

The company posted a 78 percent increase in first-quarter net profit after tax and minority interest to 260 million pounds. Shares in the company were trading 1.3 percent lower at 144 pounds by 1010 GMT.-Reuters