Qalaa Holdings business unit ASEC Cement has concluded the c. EGP 1 billion sale of its stakes in subsidiaries ASEC Minya Cement and ASEC Ready Mix to Misr Cement Qena
ASEC Cement, a business unit of Qalaa Holdings (CCAP.CA on the Egyptian Exchange) reached financial close today on the sale of its holdings in subsidiaries ASEC Minya Cement and ASEC Ready Mix Co. to Misr Cement Qena for total consideration of c.EGP 1 billion.
“We are pleased to announce the sale process closed today, putting in place another cornerstone in our strategy to deleverage at both the holding and platform company levels,” said Qalaa Holdings Chairman and Founder Ahmed Heikal. “Both ASEC Minya and ASEC Ready Mix have established themselves as critical players in the vital Upper Egyptian market, and we are honored to have worked with an exceptional management team at each of them to build them into the companies they are today.”
In addition to the proceeds generated for Qalaa, the sale of ASEC Minya & Ready-mix will result in a total of c. EGP 940 million in debt deconsolidated at the ASEC Cement consolidated level.
Qalaa had announced on 1 November that it had signed a sale and purchase agreement for the transaction.
The execution of the ASEC Cement transaction came less than two weeks after Qalaa business unit Gozour signed a sale and purchase agreement to divest confectioner Rashidi El Mizan, putting Qalaa well on track to deliver on its strategy for FY2015. That strategy has focused on deleveraging at the holding and platform company levels; acquiring additional stakes in key platform companies and selective investments within existing platform companies. The company will also continue to study opportunities for share buybacks so long as its shares trade at a significant discount to their fair market value.
ASEC Minya Cement is an Egyptian cement producer located in Upper Egypt. It began commercial operations in August 2013 with a name plate capacity of 2.0 million tons per annum. ASEC Ready Mix is a producer and distributor of ready-mix concrete, the company operates six batch plants in Upper Egypt with production in FY14 reaching 382,000 cubic meters.
At the time of sale, ASEC Cement held 46.5% of ASEC Minya Cement and 55% of ASEC Ready Mix. Qalaa and its subsidiary National Development and Trading Company (“NDT”) together own 70% of ASEC Cement.
CI Capital Investment Banking was Financial Advisor and Arab Legal Consultants (ALC) served as Legal Advisors to Qalaa on the transaction.
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Qalaa Holdings(CCAP.CA on the Egyptian Stock Exchange) is an African leader in infrastructure and industry. Formerly known as Citadel Capital, Qalaa Holdings controls subsidiaries in core industries including Energy, Cement, Transportation & Logistics, and Mining. To learn more, please visit qalaaholdings.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
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For more information, please contact:
Ms. Ghada Hammouda
CMO & Head of Marketing Communications
Qalaa Holdings
ghammouda@qalaaholdings.com
Tel: +20 2 2791-4439
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