Qalaa Holdings MENA Glass Ltd closes sale of MGM and UGC

KUWAIT: Qalaa Holdings (CCAP.CA on the Egyptian Exchange), an African leader in energy and infrastructure, announced yesterday that its subsidiary MENA Glass Ltd. has reached financial close on the sale of the entirety of its stake in Misr Glass Manufacturing Company (MGM), a leading regional producer and exporter of glass containers, and the entirety of its stake in United Glass Company (UGC) to Middle East Glass Manufacturing Company, at a combined equity value for 100 percent of both MGM and UGC of c. EGP 828 million.

Qalaa Holdings had maintained an effective ownership of 15.2 percent in MGM and UGC.

“Our exit from MGM and UGC marks the year ahead of us as one where Qalaa will continue to push forward in the delivery of its strategy and the execution of our asset divestment program,” said Qalaa Co-Founder and Managing Director Hisham El-Khazindar. “We are confident that MGM will continue its growth trajectory under the stewardship of Middle East Glass as we ourselves devote maximum attention to high-growth business - buoyed by Qalaa’s now more liquid and increasingly deleveraged balance sheet - in the sectors deemed vital for the region’s development such as refining, energy distribution and transportation and logistics.”

The exit is helping accelerate the delivery of Qalaa’s strategy, with its key elements being deleveraging at the holding and platform company levels; acquisition of additional stakes in key platform companies; selective investments within existing platform companies; and share buybacks so long as the company’s shares trade at a significant discount to their fair market value.

Pharos Holding acted as financial advisers, and Zaki Hashem Law Office acted as legal counsel, to the sellers on the transaction.