Qalaa mulls Sale of key Food Businesses

Egypt’s Qalaa Holdings, African leader in infrastructure and industry, has hired investment bank EFG Hermes to advise it on possible sale of its key remaining food businesses.

Such a deal would help it return to profit this year instead of 2016, the conglomerate said in a statement on Wednesday.

Chairman Ahmed Heikal stated that Qalaa, which is seeking to raise $300 million over the medium term through divestments, is considering selling confectioner Rashidi El-Mizan and dairy producer Dina Farms.

The packaged foods industry in Egypt has recently seen an uptick in M&A activity. “In this context, we have been approached by more than one party interested in potential transactions regarding our key investments in the agrifoods sector; we have a clear duty to shareholders to fully explore our options in this respect,” Heikal noted.

Concluded Heikal: “This will hasten our return to profitability, which we would now anticipate in 2015 as opposed to next year as we had originally envisioned.”

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