National Food Products Company (NFPC) has reportedly abandoned its plan to sell a stake in the company (of up to 51% for a previously cited USD1.5bn), according to two unnamed sources quoted by Bloomberg. The company has opted to carry out the expansion on itself and may revisit the sale process in 2018. NFPC is one of the UAE’s largest manufacturers and distributors  of food and dairy that sells brands such as Milco, Lacnor and Oasis bottled water in addition to having a joint venture with Danish dairy player Arla Foods. Earlier in April, Almarai expressed interest in buying a controlling stake in NFPC, which was targeting to raise up to USD1.5bn from its 51% stake sale. Other interested bidders included a consortium of U.S. private equity firm KKR and Dubai-based Fajr Capital, Blackstone Group and two other bidders. (Bloomberg, Nada Amin, Hatem Alaa)   Almarai: SAR54.50 as of 22 June 2016, Rating: Neutral, FV: SAR48.75 per share, MCap: USD11,627mn, ALMARAI AB / 2280.SE