The Egyptian government is planning to sell two military-owned companies, the National Company for Natural Water in Siwa (Safi) and Wataniya, before the end of this year, as part of its efforts to attract private investment and boost economic growth.
Safi is a company that produces bottled water, and Wataniya is a company that operates gas stations across the country. Both companies are affiliated with the National Service Projects Organization, which is part of the army.
According to a document issued by the Information and Decision Support Center of the Cabinet, which Daily News Egypt obtained, the government has received several expressions of interest from local and foreign investors for both companies.
The document said that Mansour Group and the UAE’s Agthia are currently conducting due diligence for Safi, which is expected to end in October. The government has separated the water factory from the rest of the company’s other factories based on the investors’ preference. The government aims to seal the deal in December, after receiving financial offers in November.
The document also said that there are four serious offers for Wataniya, which were among eight non-binding offers received by the Sovereign Fund of Egypt.
The due diligence process started with these four investors, who are interested in buying a new entity that owns 174 gas stations out of a total of 300. The deal will be implemented entirely in dollars and is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
The document revealed that TAQA Arabia, a subsidiary of Qalaa Holdings, is the only bidder that offered to pay a share of the deal in Egyptian pounds.
The Egyptian government has hired CI Capital as a financial advisor, Grant Thornton and ADSERO-Ragy Soliman & Partners as legal advisors, and a team of experts to restructure the companies and create new entities that own the assets to be sold.
