CAIRO: Asec Cement said it will increase its production capacity to 13 million tons per year in 2013, from its current production capacity of 3 million tons per year. Meanwhile, food industry company Gozour is looking to expand into African markets. Both companies are subsidiaries of private equity firm Citadel Capital, which itself plans to invest in 500,000 feddans (210,000 hectares) of farmland in Sudan. The companies gave an overview of their operations Tuesday in a workshop titled "Creating Industry Leaders at the Euromoney conference. While Citadel Capital presented the success stories from only two of its platform companies, the firm's activities span 19 more, which together account for more than $8.3 billion in investments. Asec said it expects sales to increase to $1.2 billion by 2013, $231 million as production starts in its new plants in Sudan, Algeria and Egypt, Bloomberg reported. Giorgio Bodo, chairman and CEO of Asec, said the Middle East and North Africa region is favorable for more cement projects due to the availability of natural resources, lower energy costs and no caps on carbon emissions. Taking advantage of these factors, Asec has registered considerable growth in the past few years, and especially in Egypt, reaching 25 percent in 2009. Bodo said Asec is benefiting the local economy through its diversified activities and by encouraging infrastructure and housing development, two areas that Investment Minister Mahmoud Mohieldin identified as key interests of the Egyptian government. Mohamed El-Rashidi, CEO of Citadel's food industry platform company Gozour, said the company is looking to extend its activities into African markets, which remain untapped and underserved. The company controls leading businesses in food production including the largest private farm in Egypt, Dina Farms, and the leader in halawa and tahina production, Rashidi El-Mizan. By employing the same approach it used to break into Egypt's competitive food market - guaranteeing the quality of the food and implementing food safety monitoring and organic production - it hopes its ventures will be fruitful. Citadel's success extends beyond these two industries, said Managing Director Ahmed El-Housseiny, adding that the company coped with the financial downturn quite well due to solid capital back-up and revising the structures and staffing of the firm. Speaking to Reuters on the sidelines of the conference, El-Houssieny said Citadel is investing in 500,000 feddans (210,000 hectares) of farmland in Sudan. He said the firm operating the project was called Sabina, a company set up by Citadel, and said it had the right to farm the land for 99 years. The farmland would mainly be used to grow sugar cane, corn and wheat, he said, which would serve to fill a supply gap within the Sudanese market in addition to catering to export markets. Like most speakers at the Euromoney conference, El-Housseiny was optimistic about the future of the region, predicting that the financial crisis will actually have a positive effect on developing economies by enhancing their global economic role. Bodo concurred, adding that Egypt has provided favorable investment conditions through market reform and the availability of skilled human capital. Egypt, in his opinion, should expect more diversified partnerships with Europe and outsourcing opportunities, which will entail stable rules and regulations in order to maintain investor confidence.
