Arab Cotton Ginning in Acquisition Mode
December 10, 2009 Bloomberg
Alaa Shahine
Arab Cotton Ginning of Egypt is “in talks” to acquire companies specializing in weaving, shirt- making, dyeing and bed linen, chairman Hani Olama said.
“Already we have targets in Egypt and abroad,” Olama said in an interview in Cairo. “This is a good time for investment and a good time to get your needed expansions under way.”
Arab Cotton Ginning, which was privatized in 1996, plans to grow its business in Egypt and abroad to $500 million in turnover over the next three years, according to a presentation it made to analysts.
The company halted its expansion plans last year because of the global financial crisis, Olama said. “Last year like everybody else we were at a standstill and even people we were talking with preferred to wait,” he said.
Arab Cotton Ginning has stakes in companies that include El Nasr Clothes & Textile, also known as Kabo.
Shareholders agreed in October to form a real estate arm to benefit from the company’s land bank of more than 600,000 square meters (148 acres), mostly located across the Nile Delta in northern Egypt.
Olama said Arab Cotton Ginning had received offers from several real estate companies to develop the land for residential and commercial purposes. He declined to name any of the suitors.
The company is in the process of valuing its land, he said, adding that it could be worth about 1 billion Egyptian pounds ($183.3 million).
(Story found in original format here.)
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