Posted By: Mark Thatcher

Mon Nov 6, 8:50 AM ET

DUBAI (Reuters) - Saudi-owned Arab entertainment company
Rotana Audio Visual Co. will distribute Walt Disney products
across the Middle East and North Africa, the company said on
Monday.
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Rotana, which is wholly owned by Saudi billionaire Prince
Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud, signed a three-year
deal to sell video cassettes and DVDs produced by Walt Disney
Studios, Touchstone and Hollywood Pictures in the region, the
company said in a statement on Monday.

Rotana did not reveal the value of the deal, which could
also include other Buena Vista Home Entertainment products.

"The deal complements (al-Waleed's) international business
interests, including The Walt Disney Company and a stake in
Euro Disney, France," Rotana President Salem al-Hindi said in
the statement.

The first releases will hit the market before the end of
the year, the statement said.

Rotana, which will likely sell shares in an initial public
offering in 2007, is expanding its operations in movies, radio
and music, pushing aggressively into the entertainment market,
which caters to nearly 300 million Arabs in the region as well
as those living abroad.

Last year, the company signed an agreement with British
firm Virgin for the online sale of music by Rotana's artists in
France.

Rotana Home Entertainment, a new company based in Dubai,
will be in charge of distributing the Disney films, Hindi said.

Rotana plans to list on one of the three United Arab
Emirates stock exchanges rather than in conservative Saudi
Arabia, where cinemas are not allowed.

Kingdom Hotel Investments, controlled by Alwaleed, is
listed on the Dubai International Financial Exchange.

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