Qalaa Holding Company's Board of Directors is holding a meeting within the following few hours to investigate the increase of the company's capital to reach EGP 1.8bn. According to sources, the increase of capital will be released in return for a swap of the partners stock in sister companies under the management of Qalaa Holdings. Sources added that the increase will not be financial, as it means Qalaa Holding will instead receive additional shares in these companies. At the same time, shareholders will have shares in the company that enable them to either exit the Egyptian Stock Exchange (EGX) or stay in the mother company. The company is working on receiving approval of the concerned agencies from the EGX, the Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority and the Investments Authority. In case of approval, procedures will be initiated through the company's Board of Directors. Qalaa Holding's Co-Founder and Managing Director Hisham Al Khazindar did not respond to Daily News Egypt's requests for comment. Head of Marketing Communications, Ghada Hammouda, also declined comment on the matter. The company has completed the second and last phase of increasing paid-up capital to EGP 8bn, with a cash increase of EGP 3.64bn. Qalaa Holding is considering exiting some of its major investments, most prominently El-Rashidi El-Mizan and Dina Farms, with an estimated value of $80m. A number of Saudi companies are competing on the buying. The companies include Almarai, Savola, and Beyti, in addition to a number of investment funds. EG-Hermes was chosen as a financial adviser for the deal, and Qalaa acquires 100% of Dina Farms through its subsidiary company, Gozour. Dina Farms owns 9,500 acres on the Cairo-Alexandria desert road on Kilo 80, which is equivalent to 40m sqm. It also has 7,600 cattle, and ICDP Market Company which owns a group of selling outlets for dairy products. The deal is still in its early stages and is expected to be implemented within six months, after the finishing of due diligence checks done by companies making offers. The door is still open for all companies to make offers to acquire companies offered for sale. Last week, the company mentioned in a statement that it is seriously studying a possible exit of its remaining main investments in the food sector. This is to quickly decrease the company's debt and scale risks, while focusing on the available resources for energy and cement projects as well as the other main sectors of the company. Last Monday, Qalaa said in a statement to EGX that it is seeking to raise around $300m from exiting EGX.
