OMAR Effendi's sale saga has at last come to an end. The Holding Company for Trade (HCT), Omar Effendi's parent company, approved on Monday the Saudi company Anwal's offer to buy 90 per cent of the state-owned department store chain. HCT will retain a 10 per cent stake to protect labour rights, and said it might transfer the stake later to the retailers' employees. According to the deal, announced during HCT's general assembly meeting, Anwal will pay LE589.5 million (equivalent to LE38.53 per share). Moreover, Anwal will pump in an estimated LE180 million, representing 90 per cent of the LE200 million the Ministry of Investment said is needed to renovate some Omar Effendi stores. Anwal will also assume LE155 million worth of the company's liabilities and back taxes, in addition to paying LE50 million for the expected cost of early retirement for around 1,200 of the company's employees. The HCT general assembly also decided to corner two per cent of the purchase value to be deposited in Omar Effendi's employee fund. Minister of Investment Mahmoud Mohieddin stressed that the Saudi group is obliged to maintain Omar Effendi outlets with buildings that have a historical nature, such as on Abdel-Aziz St, downtown. The sale came three month late, since it was supposed to be finalised in July when the Riyadh-based Egyptian businessman Said El-Hanash offered a massive LE2 billion for Omar Effendi. The Ministry of Investment, however, suspended all negotiations until El-Hanash submitted an official offer, which he never did. The HCT meeting also reviewed previous offers for Egypt's most famous department store starting with the LE244 million offered by the Egyptian Manufacturers Group in the late 1990s. There was also a LE305 million bid by the Kuwaiti Sultan Centre last year.
