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.”
