DUBAI: Egyptian private equity firm Citadel Capital said on Sunday it swung to a standalone loss of LE 20.7 million ($3.5 million) in the third quarter, compared with a net profit of 18.43 million pounds in the same period last year. The firm, which focuses on the Middle East and North Africa, said it made a consolidated net loss for the first nine months of LE 446.6 million according to a filing on the stock exchange on Sunday. The company had reported a net loss of LE 160.6 million for the same period a year earlier, the exchange added. A company official said Citadel posted a net profit of LE 18.43 million in the third quarter of 2010. In October, Citadel completed a $175.6 million capital increase and in November it secured a $150 million, 10-year financing facility from a US government's Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), taking the firm's long-term capital to $325 million. The company, which then said the extra capital would help it weather an expected 12 to 18 months of turbulence ahead, is scaling back investments outside its existing projects until Egypt's political and economic outlook becomes clearer. Egypt is in the middle of its first parliament elections after the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak in February in a popular uprising that caused a flight of foreign investors and tourists.
