CAIRO: Private equity firm Citadel Capital acquired a controlling stake in two firms operating in the solid waste management sector, the company said in a statement. "The Egyptian Company for Solid Waste Recycling (ECARU) and the Engineering Tasks Group (ENTAG) are managed as one firm and will be grouped under a single holding company that will serve as the core of Citadel Capital's platform investment in the solid waste management sector, the company said. The new company will be named ENTAG Holding, marking Citadel Capital's 18th platform company. The investment will be "controlled through the ECO-LOGIC Opportunity-Specific Fund, said Marwan Elaraby, managing director of Citadel Capital. Citadel Capital will be a majority shareholder in the companies along with existing shareholders and management team through a series of cash injections in 2009 and 2010. "The solid waste management sector is under-developed across the region, with a limited number of large companies operating and much of the waste not being properly treated. There is ample room for geographic expansion and vertical integration, including expansion into waste-based industries, he added. ECARU has collects and processes more than 500,000 tons per year of agricultural solid waste, particularly rice straw. The company currently focuses on the conversion of rice straw into compost, and has reportedly pioneered a technology to produce animal fodder and is also investigating the feasibility of producing medium-density fiber board, fuel pellets and paper from rice straw. Citadel Capital Principal Karim Ragab said the the company became one of the first Egyptian organizations to sign a greenhouse gas emission reduction purchase agreement with the World Bank in the summer of 2008, agreeing to sell 325,480 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent greenhouse gas emission reductions to the Carbon Fund for Europe. ECARU's sister-company ENTAG, specializes in the design, manufacturing and erection of solid waste management systems. The companies have operations in Egypt and have worked in Malaysia, Sudan and Libya. -Daily News Egypt
