Cairo: Saudi company Anwal finalised the purchase of 90 per cent of Egypt's historic Omar Effendi department store chain for 589.5 million Egyptian pounds ($102.9 million), Anwal and the state's Holding Company for Trade said.
Under the sale agreement, the state company will retain the remaining 10 per cent of the shares and will be represented on the board, and Anwal will keep on the chain's employees.
Anwal will also spend 200 million pounds on developing the business and will retain those properties which are deemed to be of architectural value, including one in Abdel Aziz Street in Cairo and one in central Alexandria, it said.
Omar Effendi, which has branches in every large Egyptian town, was founded in 1856 under the name Orosdi Back and long dominated the retail sector. It changed hands and acquired its current name in the 1920s, and was nationalised in 1957.
The government has been trying to return it to the private sector for many years but found it hard to raise an offer that met its own internal assessment of the company's value.
Because of the public's familiarity with the brand, the deal also attracted a much higher level of scrutiny in the opposition press, which repeatedly accused the government of trying to sell off a national asset too cheaply.
Investment Minister Mahmoud Mohieldin, who had fought hard to persuade the public that the Anwal offer was the best available, said back in September that the company had already agreed to transfer 2 per cent of the shares to a workers' fund.
Omar Effendi, which has branches in every large Egyptian town, was founded in 1856 under the name Orosdi Back and long dominated the retail sector. It changed hands and acquired its current name in the 1920s, and was nationalised in 1957.
