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- Gozour divests Confectioner RIS Assets in Sudan and Cheese Manufacturer El-Misrieen in Egypt.
- The sale is part of the Qalaa Holdings divesting and deleveraging program to return to profitability this year.
Gozour signs a sale and purchase agreement (SPA) to divest RIS assets in Sudan and El-Misrieen in Egypt for enterprise values of $ 549, 142 and $ 6,385,370 respectively; transactions will result in the deconsolidation of a total $ 2,554,344 in debt from Gozour’s balance sheet as Qalaa continues to divest non-core units and focus on growth of proven winners
Qalaa Holdings (CCAP.CA on the Egyptian Exchange), an African leader in infrastructure and industry, announced that RIS – a business unit of its agrifoods subsidiary Gozour – has signed a sale and purchase agreement (SPA) for the sale of its two Halawa and Biscuits plants in Sudan to a Sudanese investor at an enterprise value of $ 4.3 million. Qalaa Holdings currently has an effective ownership of 55% in RIS.
Furthermore, Gozour has signed another SPA for the sale of Misr October for food industries (El-Misrieen), an Egyptian manufacturer of cheese products, to a domestic industrial investor at an enterprise value of $ 6,385,370. The acquirer will assume all debt, liabilities and obligations of El-Misrieen, including bank debt of $2,107,334 Qalaa had previously fully written-down the value of its investment in El-Misrieen, which ceased operations in 2012.
Qalaa Holdings continues to divest non-core investments across its footprint as it focuses on core business units including Egyptian Refining Company a $ 3.7 billion megaproject that is nearing the 75% completion mark and is on track to begin production in 2017 and TAQA Arabia (Egypt’s leading independent energy distribution company).
The company also remains watchful for opportunities to create new shareholder value through the acquisition of additional stakes in core subsidiaries and to engage in share buybacks for so long as Qalaa shares trade at a steep discount to their fair value.
Pharos Holding was sell-side advisor for the El-Misrieen transaction.
