PIONEERS HOLDING: The locally listed investment bank plans to finish due diligence on Rouya for Real Estate Investments before the end of the first quarter of 2014. Pioneers, which has activities across the region through 34 offices in the Middle East and North Africa, is targeting a 60 per cent stake of the real estate developer for LE1 billion. According to a senior official in the bank, it will pay the value of the deal by using its cash balance in addition to a planned capital increase. The company's owner, Chairman and Managing Director Hisham Shoukry, will maintain his position after the deal is finalised. According to a Beltone research note, Rouya has total land of nine million m2, of which six million m2 is under construction and three million is raw. Rouya's total sales were LE900 million in 2013, bringing the company's total sales to LE4.0 billion since 2008. Rouya's current projects are Telal, a resort at Ain Sokhna almost 150 km east of Cairo, and Stone Park, a gated compound in New Cairo. Meanwhile, Pioneers has equity stakes in a number of real estate and contracting companies, including Cairo Investment and Real Estate Development, Upper Egypt Contracting, and the United Company for Real Estate and Development.
PALM HILLS FOR DEVELOPMENT (PHD): The real estate developer reached a settlement with the military prosecutor and the investment and legal affairs committee of the Marsa Matrouh governorate on its outstanding dues to the governorate. According to the agreement, PHD is to pay LE360 million, which represents the outstanding liability on its 549 feddans of land located on the North Coast. Aside from the LE60 million that PHD has recently paid to the Marsa Matrouh governorate, it will pay the sum in 10 bi-annual installments.
CITADEL CAPITAL: the private equity firm said that its agri-foods platform Gozour had been able to achieve operational milestones that included record milk production of more than 200 tons per day at its affiliate Dina Farms. This came after the company increased the number of milking cows by 2,400, bringing total herd size to 15,000. The next step in its dairy expansion plan is to install new state-of-the art milking stations that will increase overall annual milk production to 72,000 tons per annum in 2014 from 60,000 tons annually last year. Agri-foods is one of five core industries in which Citadel Capital invests, alongside energy, transportation, mining, and cement. It owns a 43.25 per cent stake in Gozour.
EZZ STEEL: The steel giant reported a net profit of LE217 million in the first nine months of 2013, compared to a net loss of LE46.1 million on the same period of last year, thanks to higher steel prices and lower iron ore costs. However, the company posted a loss of LE84.1 million in the third quarter alone. Although steel prices remained relatively flat during the third quarter compared to the first half of 2013, profit margins declined from 12.8 per cent in the first six months to 8.8 per cent in the third quarter, the decline in the third quarter stemming from lower production of the high-margin flat steel at its subsidiary Ezz Al-Dekheila (EZDK). During the quarter, EZDK sold 205,000 tons of flat steel versus 266,700 in the same quarter of 2103 and 255,900 in the second quarter. Ezz Flat Steel (EFS), another subsidiary, reported stand-alone losses of LE107 million during the quarter. Youssef Tawfik, an analyst with Pharos, said the new plant that the firm was constructing would channel the bulk of its output to EFS to restart its flat steel production line, whose output will be mostly channeled to export markets.
