CAIRO: The government agreed on Monday to sell 90 percent of the historic department store chain Omar Effendi to the Saudi company Anwal for LE 589.5 million ($102.7 million), state news agency MENA said. Omar Effendi, which has branches in every large Egyptian town, was founded in 1856 under the name Orosdi Back and long dominated the retail sector. It changed hands and acquired its current name in the 1920s, and was nationalized in 1957. The government has been trying to return it to the private sector for many years but found it hard to raise an offer that met its own internal assessment of the company s value. Because of the public s familiarity with the brand, the deal also attracted a much higher level of scrutiny in the opposition press, which repeatedly accused the government of trying to sell off a national asset too cheaply. The state s Holding Company for Trading will retain the remaining 10 percent of the shares to make sure that the investor fulfils all the clauses of the contract, the state news agency said, quoting Investment Minister Mahmoud Mohieddin at a news conference. Under the deal, Anwal promises to spend LE 180 million on developing the business and to retain those properties which are deemed to be of architectural value, including one in Abdel Aziz Street in Cairo and one in central Alexandria, it said. Mohieddin, who had fought hard to persuade the public that the Anwal offer was the best available, said the company had agreed to transfer 2 percent of the shares to a workers fund. Reuters
