A United Arab Emirates investment firm bought a 30% stake in Egypt’s largest tobacco company for $625 million, the latest step in the North African nation’s ambitious program to offload state assets and raise sorely-needed foreign currency.
The UAE firm, identified by Egypt’s cabinet as Global Investment Holding Ltd., will also provide Eastern Company with $150 million for the purchase of raw materials for manufacturing, the Egyptian government said in an Arabic-language statement on its Facebook page. It gave no further details about the investor.
The deal follows an announcement in July that Egypt had reached agreements with investors that included Abu Dhabi wealth fund ADQ to sell stakes in a number of companies for a total of $1.9 billion.
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