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Cimpor Raises Bid for Egyptian Cement Company | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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CAIRO,(Reuters) – Portugal’s Cimpor has outbid Egypt’s ASEC Cement in a battle to take over Egypt’s Misr Cement Qena.

Cimpor Inversiones SA, a Spanish subsidiary of Cimpor, offered 80 Egyptian pounds ($14.05) a share for up to 100 percent of the 30 million shares in Misr Cement Qena, a stock exchange statement said on Sunday.

The offer, which values Misr Cement Qena at 2.4 billion pounds, outdoes an offer of 75 pounds a share made last week by ASEC Cement, a subsidiary of Citadel Capital.

The Portuguese company began the bidding for Misr Cement Qena at 67 pounds a share two weeks ago.

The stock exchange suspended trade in Misr Cement Qena shares after the price jumped 3.3 percent to 80.99 pounds.

Trading resumed after the exchange released the statement and the price closed 4.6 percent up at 82.00 pounds.

The bidding war has continued despite two government statements saying that it does not intend to sell any of its shares in cement companies. Brokers say the government owns about 40 percent of Misr Cement Qena.

But ASEC said in a detailed explanation of its bid that it would agree to buy the narrowest majority of shares in the company — 50 percent plus one share.