Saudi CPC acquires Egypt's Sphinx Glass for $180 mn

Waad Ahmed , Wednesday 27 Aug 2014

Acquisition of Sphinx Glass is part of CPC's expansion in the MENA region and Qalaa's sell-off of non-core projects

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Saudi Construction Products Holding Company (CPC) has acquired Sphinx Glass from Egyptian private equity firm Qalaa capital (formerly known as Citadel Capital) in a deal worth LE1.3 billion (roughly $180 million), the signatories announced at a press conference on Tuesday.

The acquisition deal is part of CPC's expansion strategy in the Middle East and North Africa region and Qalaa's strategy to sell off their non-core projects.

Sphinx Glass is a float glass plant established in Egypt in 2008 by Glassworks, a platform company of Citadel Capital, a leading investment company in the Middle East and Africa.

“We are investing in Egypt as we expect a boom in development projects in the country and as part of our expansion in the region,” Al-Motaz Al-Sawaf, CEO and deputy chairman of CPC, said.

CPC will raise Sphinx Glass' productivity through additional production lines, said Saleh Bin Laden, chairman of the Saudi company.

The Middle East is witnessing a boom in construction projects, with up to $8 billion worth of contracts in July alone, according to recent data released by MEED.

MEED, a Middle East-focused business intelligence firm, has tracked 200 megaprojects with an aggregate value of $1.5 trillion in key economies in the region to be delivered by 2020.

Egypt, Oman, Bahrain and Iraq are expected to see 40 megaprojects worth $500 million, reported Reuters subsidiary for Middle East business intelligence, Zawya, citing a MEED report.

Egypt’s top construction projects include Uptown Cairo residential compound with a contract value of $2.1 billion, New Giza with a value of $1.8 billion and Grand Heights worth $1.2 billion, according to data compiled by MEED.

In an attempt to revive the country's ailing economy, Egypt’s recently elected president, Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, has focused on mega development projects.

This month, the government announced a $4 billion project to dig a new waterway alongside the Suez Canal, a plan to build an industrial hub in the same area estimated at LE60 billion ($8.4 billion), and a mega development project on the north coast, with calls for further investments.

 

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