RIYADH: Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund ADQ will invest $2 billion to acquire stakes in some state-owned Egyptian businesses, Bloomberg reported citing unnamed sources.
The agreement encompasses an 18 percent stake in Egypt’s largest listed bank, CIB, along with four other listed companies including e-payment provider Fawry.
ADQ is a long term investor in Egypt.
It acquired Egyptian pharmaceutical Amoun a year ago from Bausch Health Cos for $740 million.
Later in the same year, a consortium led by UAE-based Aldar Properties and ADQ sealed a deal to buy Egypt’s real estate developer SODIC for $388 million.
The deal comes at a time when the Egyptian economy is suffering from the fallout of the Russia-Ukraine war as foreign investors pull out billions of dollars from Egypt's markets.
The value of the currency devalued sharply against the dollar on Mar. 21 and the central bank hiked interest rates by 100 basis points for the first time since 2017.
