Hazem Badran, head of investment banking at CI Capital, expects that his company will sign a Memorandum of Association with Duet Group this month, worth $300m in capital. In exclusive statements to Daily News Egypt on the sidelines of a press conference held Sunday, Badran said that $150m of the capital is expected to be invested this year. He said that these investments would be represented in two or three deals maximum in the consumer sectors, like food, health, and real estate. Badran said he expects these deals to take place by mid-year. "The capital allocated to each deal will range between $50-70m. That figure may increase or decrease in exceptional cases," he said. He also revealed that Orascom, a contracting company, would be publicly traded following a split on the Egypt and Dubai exchanges in the middle of this year. "Currently, procedures are underway to separate fertiliser and contracting activities with a separate company for each," Badran said. CI Capital expects two other offerings to take place this year, in addition to his company acquiring a financial advisory role for a number of acquisition and merger deals. Badran said that two months ago the government called all investment banks to study a group of projects in order to produce a list of projects qualified to be presented during the economic summit scheduled to be held in March, and the banks have nearly completed a final list of these projects. "Energy and infrastructure sector projects top those under study, and many of these projects are specialised and have great capital, which makes the segmenttargeted for marketing more specific. The returns are guaranteed and the projects have few risks," Badran said. He mentioned that a drop in oil prices does not represent a significant obstacle to Gulf countries, as Saudi Arabia's reserves are capable of bearing the deficit resulting from the crisis for more than 55 years. Regarding the unified investment law, Badran feels that implementing the law and activating the ‘one-stop shop' investment window system are positive steps, and will foster investment growth rates. Regarding Duet's funding instruments, it was mentioned that the company is still studying several investment opportunities for the fund's monies, and that this will be finalised before June.
