CAIRO: Investment bank EFG Hermes closed the sale of Egyptian white-goods manufacturer Olympic Group to Sweden's Electrolux Group, following a mandatory tender offer by Electrolux for 100 percent of Olympic's shares. In a statement, the firm said the mandatory tender offer was 98.33 percent accepted by shareholders, implying a total transaction size of $404 million. EFG Hermes Investment Banking was sole sell-side advisor to investment firm Paradise Capital for Financial Investments on the sale of its 52 percent stake in Olympic Group, the firm said. Financial Brokerage Group, a subsidiary of EFG Hermes Holding, also acted as the transaction broker for both Paradise Capital and Electrolux. Paradise Capital will reacquire Olympic Group's shareholdings in Namaa for Development and Real Estate Investment and B-Tech for Trade and Distribution. “The Olympic Group acquisition is the first sizeable foreign direct investment in Egypt following the January 25 Revolution and represents a strong vote of confidence in the Egyptian economy at a significant moment in the nation's modern history,” according to the statement. This is the third M&A transaction for EFG Hermes Investment Banking this year, following its advisory to Orascom Telecom on the sale of its 50 percent stake in Orascom Telecom Tunisia to Qatar Telecom. It also advised Italy's Wind Telecom on its merger with Russia's Vimpelcom in April. The Paradise Capital advisory brings the firm's total M&A executions in 2011 to $27.4 billion.
