Raya Holding for Financial Investment will invest $24m in an agricultural products factory in Uganda, the company said in a press release on Monday. The total cost of the project is $70m, Raya said in a statement to the Egyptian Exchange (EGX), adding that the company's board of directors will assign a chairperson to negotiate over acquiring a minority stake of not more than 25%, worth $5.8m. The board agreed to pay about $250,000 to complete the required studies regarding the investment after signing the agreement, as well as hiring a legal adviser to study final contracts, in line with shielding minority shareholders' rights. Raya's capital amounts to EGP 504.6m distributed over 100.9 million shares at a par value of EGP 5 per share. The company previously announced that its subsidiary Raya Trade has signed a partnership agreement with Samsung Group to locally manufacture Samsung washing machines. The deal includes manufacturing nine-kilogram to 13-kilogram washing machines in Egypt, Raya highlighted in the statement to the EGX. Manufacturing is scheduled to start within the second half of 2018, the company added. Raya last posted a net profit of EGP 87.9m in the first nine months of 2017, up from EGP 64.4m in the prior year. Also, the company is planning to invest EGP 100m in an automotive manufacturing project. This project will include collecting and manufacturing two-wheel drive, three-wheeler, and four-wheel drive vehicles.
