Nassef Sawiris, worth $6.7bn (£4bn, €5bn), said he will contribute up to 25% in the investments of the Duet-CIC Egypt Opportunities Fund through Nile Holding, his private investment vehicle, provided they do not conflict with the activities of the Orascom group, his wide-spreading Egyptian conglomerate.
The fund will invest in Egyptian businesses with a view to injecting growth and buyout capital into the consumer and consumer-related industries.
The companies said the alliance will allow international capital and domestic investors to participate alongside each other as Egypt positions itself as Africa’s leading medium-to-long term investment destination.
"Resiliance and quality"
CICH chief executive Mahmoud Attalla said: “This alliance will serve as an important conduit for capital flows into the Egyptian economy.
“Combining Duet and CICH means we can create a powerful Egyptian investment platform.”
Duet chief executive Henry Gabay said the driving force behind the partnership was Egypt’s “strategic position” within the Middle East and frontier markets.
“Egypt’s demographics and current economic positioning are attractive foundations for private equity investment,” he said. “The economy weathered the country’s recent political transition largely intact, showing the resilience and quality of the Egyptian corporate sector.”
CICH is the premier investment Bank in Egypt and a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Commercial International Bank. It has franchises in investment banking, securities brokerage, asset management and research.
Founded in 2002, Duet group is a global alternative asset manager with 75 professionals in London, Dubai, New York, New Delhi and Accra. It has over $5bn in assets under management of which over $1.4bn have been invested in in Frontier Markets.
Earlier this week, frontier market specialist Silk Invest launched a fund offering wealth management solutions to Egyptian footballers.
As well as the Egyptian stock market, the Luxembourg-domiciled African Opportunities for Footballers Fund, will invest in nine other African markets including South Africa and Morocco, allowing footballers to “invest their assets in investment opportunities they understand, but also make a difference back home”.
