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S Africa arms

firm set for

deal with

ME, Asian states

JOHANNESBURG: South Africa's state-owned arms manufacturer Denel is hoping to clinch its biggest deals to date with sales to Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, the Sunday Independent newspaper said.

Denel managing director Johan Alberts told the Johannesburg weekly his corporation was on the verge of concluding the South African defence industry's biggest series of export deals, worth 36 billion rand ($7.95 billion), in the Middle East and Asia.

He declined to say where but the newspaper, which gave no source, said Malaysia was believed to be interested in becoming the first foreign country to buy Rooivalk attack helicopters.

Saudi Arabia and the UAE were other potential customers, it said. Alberts said new deals could create 15,000 new jobs.

Denel is on South Africa's privatisation list but is not expected to be sold until the middle of next year at the very earliest. In the year to the end of March it raised its net profit to 379 million rand from 310 million the year before.-Reuter