Investment company Citadel Capital has “exited its full 66.12% stake in Sudanese Egyptian Bank, full-service Sharia [Islamic law] compliant bank” selling it to the Islamic Solidarity Bank of Sudan with a $22m price tag, the company announced Sunday.
In January, the company announced that it had completed asset purchases and add-on investments worth a combined EGP 2.628bn. The acquisitions and add-ons came as part of the firm’s transformation from a hybrid private equity firm into an investment company.
The company added that it expects to make additional asset purchases with a value of EGP 132m during the coming period.
Citadel will continue selling its non-core investments over the next three years.
“Having helped grow it from a small, trade-focused bank into a full-fledged Islamic financial institution, we are delighted to have exited our investment in Sudanese Egyptian Bank and placed it with a strategic parent with the capacity to take it to the next level,” chairman and founder of Citadel Capital Ahmed Heikal said in an official statement.
“This transaction is entirely in line with our program of divesting non-core assets to focus on proven winners in our five core industries: energy, transportation, agrifoods, mining and cement across a footprint that concentrates on Egypt, North Africa and East Africa,” he added.
Heikal pointed out that the company will remain a long-term investor in Sudan, where it has “real opportunities to create value for our shareholders in the years ahead”.
Citadel said its subsidiaries in Sudan operate in various sectors such as Al-Takamol Cement Compnay, Agrifood such as Rashidi for Integrated Solutions, leading Sudanese confectioner Al-Musharraf, and large-scale farm Sabina. The company also has subsidiaries that operate in transportation such as NRTC Keer Marine, a division of river transportation company Nile Logistics.
