Sawiris’ Orascom approves Chimera’s acquisition bid for Beltone Financial

Orascom Financial Holding, which is owned by Egyptian business tycoon Naguib Sawiris, said in a bourse filling on Tuesday its board accepted UAE-based Chimera Investments’ offer to acquire a controlling stake in Egypt-based Beltone Financial Holding.

Beltone has been an Orascom subsidiary since late 2015.

According to the filling, Orascom has accepted the sale of all shares in Beltone — or a portion of them — which are up to 259,121,683 shares.

Earlier on 13 June, Chimera submitted a non-binding offer to the Egyptian Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA) to buy between 51 percent and 90 percent of Beltone’s shares on the Egyptian Exchange (EGX) according to the articles of Law No.95 for 1992 that governs the capital market in Egypt. The FRA agreed to the offer on 19 July.

A day after, the EGX announced the measures of the acquisition deal, including setting the share price at 1.4 Egyptian pounds ($0.074), stipulating that the bid should be concluded by August 3.