The Board of Directors of Orascom Development Holding AG (Orascom Development) (ODHN.CA) yesterday approved the public offering of up to 10% of the share capital of its Egyptian subsidiary Orascom Hotels & Development (OHD). OHD is a 99.68% subsidiary of Orascom Development, as well as an Egyptian town developer which controls a land bank of more than 50 million square meters and which owns 24 hotels with 5,929 rooms. The reactivation of OHD shares revises an earlier decision to voluntarily delist OHD from the Egyptian Exchange (EGX). Orascom Development expects to launch the public offering by mid November 2012, subject to final approval from the Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority (EFSA) and other Egyptian regulatory authorities. The offering is envisaged to take place in two tranches over a time period of three months. Reactivating OHD's shares on the Egyptian Stock Exchange also allows to fulfill an EGX listing requirement to maintain a free-float of at least 5% of total share capital. Orascom Development's chairman Samih Sawiris stated: 'Against the background of the recent economic and political changes in addition to the regained investor confidence in the Egyptian capital markets in general as well as the real estate and tourism sectors in particular, the Board has decided to reactivated the listing of its Egyptian subsidiary OHD.' OHD 's Board of Directors decided to call for an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) on 8 October 2012 in order to revise an earlier decision to voluntarily delist OHD from the Egyptian Stock Exchange and to assign an independent financial valuator to value OHD. After reviewing the report presented by the independent financial valuator, Orascom Development will determine the offering price prior to launch. Changes in the Management team Furthermore, the Board of Directors of Orascom Development appointed Aly Elhitamy (71) as new member of the Executive Management team responsible for Egypt. Aly Elhitamy is Orascom Development's Managing Director Egypt and chairman of OHD. Prior to that he headed Orascom Development's construction segment in the Middle East and North Africa for four years. For the past three decades, Mr. Elhitamy held top managerial positions in major construction and real estate companies dealing with local and international projects. He transformed many formerly nationally owned Egyptian companies into well structured and efficient private corporations. In addition to his engineering degree from Cairo University he is a licensed consultant engineer from the Egyptian Syndicate of Engineers in the field of civil engineering since 1986. 'Aly Elhitamy brings with him the experience and continuity that is needed in the real estate and construction business. He is also a well recognized manager with a strong regional network', said Gerhard Niesslein, CEO of Orascom Development. Orascom Development also announces that Abdalla El Nockrashy will resign from his role as Chief Real Estate Officer, effective 30 November 2012, to pursue other career opportunities. Abdalla El Nockrashy is part of Orascom Development's senior management team, although not member of the Executive Management team.
