Egyptian carpetmaker Oriental Weavers will pay 39.5 million Egyptian pounds for the land and assets of a startup textile firm as demand in its export markets picks up, Reuters reported on Sunday. The board of Oriental Weavers, the world's biggest machine woven carpet producer, approved the acquisition of Rosetex during a meeting last Wednesday, Oriental's investor relations manager said on Sunday. Rosetex's 65,000 square metres of land is located near Oriental's main facility in 10th of Ramadan city just outside Cairo. "The land is next to us, so we said it's a good opportunity to acquire it for future expansion," Haitham Abdel Moneim told Reuters. Oriental Weavers is financing the acquisition in full, and expects Rosetex's operations to commence within a year. The new firm has not yet acquired machinery. Oriental Weavers sells 45 per cent of its goods on the local market and has an 85 per cent share of Egypt's carpet industry. It exports the remainder to more than 100 countries. Asked about Oriental's expansion plans, Abdel Moneim said: "Signs of recovery and rebound of demand are looking good ... the fourth quarter contribution of exports is higher than the local and this hasn't happened in a while. This is proof the market is picking up." The firm's fourth quarter financial results are due to be announced in March. Its shares were down 2.9 per cent by 0949.
