Cairo-Mubasher: Japan international tobacco company (JTI), owned by 33% of the Japanese government, is negotiating with the Egyptian government to buy a minority stake in the eastern smoke company “eastern company”.
Last Monday, “economy of the East " said that the United tobacco company, a subsidiary of Philip Morris, the world's largest tobacco company, is negotiating with the Egyptian government to buy a minority stake in the eastern smoke company.
Last July, the Egyptian government announced the collection of 1.950 billion dollars through the sale of some of its assets under the government offering program, and hopes to raise another billion dollars over the next few period.
The negotiations are being held " between (JTI) and the Egyptian government and not with the sovereign fund of Egypt, according to the sources, adding that it has “exceeded the stage of interest in the stake to even further.. "The most recent meeting was last week”
The ownership of “eastern smoke” is distributed between the holding company for chemical industries affiliated to the government and owns about 51%, The ألان investment fund “Alan Gray” owner of about 7.2% of the shares, and the”Union of employees shareholders” 5.2%, while the remaining shares are free to trade on the Egyptian Stock Exchange.
The government in 2019 sold up to 4.5% of its shares in “Oriental smoke” worth 180 million dollars in it.
In a related context, eastern company said that the holding company for Chemical Industries has received several offers from foreign investors to purchase a share not exceeding 30% of its total share of 50.95% of eastern company shares.
The company explained in a statement in response to the stock exchange's inquiries regarding the sale of part of the company's shares, that these offers are currently being studied and negotiated with their providers to choose the best one, noting that the implementation of the transaction is related to the due diligence procedure.
Eastern Company achieved a profit of 5.29 billion pounds during the period from July to March 2023, compared to a profit of 4.25 billion pounds in the comparative period of the last fiscal year.
The company's revenues also increased during the period to EGP 14.6 billion, compared to revenues of EGP 12.78 billion in the comparative period of the last fiscal year, with a growth rate of 14%.
Source : Live location
