Investment firm buys Egypt retail chain for $55m
Egypt’s Arabiyya
Lel Estithmaraat investment firm said on Sunday it agreed to pay 320
million Egyptian pounds for a majority stake in the historic Omar
Effendi department store chain.
Egypt had sold the
chain to Saudi Arabia’s Anwal for 589.5 million Egyptian pounds in
2006. The sale attracted public attention in Egypt, where the media
have repeatedly accused the state of selling its assets too cheaply.
Arabiyya announced
the deal on Thursday, but had declined to say what it had agreed to pay
for the 85 percent stake. The firm’s shares, which soared 9.6 percent
after the announcement, were trading up 3 percent by 0929 GMT on Sunday.
An Egyptian member
of parliament had asked Egypt’s general prosecutor to stop the sale,
saying the state’s deal with Anwal restricted the resale of the chain’s
assets, Egypt’s state news website egynews.net reported on Sunday.
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