Dubai's Majid Al Futtaim (MAF) expects to bid for the supermarket arm of Egypt's Mansour Group in the first quarter, MAF's chief executive said, after it posted a 10 per cent rise in annual revenue. Mansour Group, also the largest distributor of General Motors cars in Egypt, aims to sell supermarket chain Metro and discount grocery store Kheir Zaman. Sources told Reuters in December that the deal was valued at $200 million to $300 million. "We're still in the due diligence phase, which we expect to be for another month or so," Iyad Malas, chief executive of Majid Al Futtaim Holding, told Reuters. "At which time, we would hopefully make an offer that would be subject to negotiations and then would either conclude a transaction or not." The discussions signal growing appetite by Gulf-based firms to expand their presence in the most populous Arab state at a time when valuations are low due to political strife in Egypt.
