Dubai-based Abraaj Capital, a private equity firm specialising in private equity investment in the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia (Menasa) region, has announced the acquisition of a strategic stake in Al Nouran Holding, a vertically integrated sugar company in Egypt.

This investment will enable Al Nouran Holding to establish a fully owned sugar production facility. The largest integrated facility of its kind in the Middle East, it will also be the first privately owned sugar mill and refinery in Egypt. Construction of the facility is expected to begin this summer.
Al Nouran’s hybrid beet-sugar mill and raw sugar refinery, located in close proximity to both prime farmland and Damietta Port, will have an annual production capacity of 514,000 tonnes and help bridge Egypt’s current annual production gap of 926,000 tonnes. This plant will specialise in processing beet sugar. Compared to cane, beet is gaining a market share in the country due to its lower water consumption.
Established in 1983, Al Nouran Holding is currently Egypt’s leading sugar trader and largest distributor of white sugar. The company specialises in the import, export, marketing and distribution of soft commodities, with its primary focus on the raw and white sugar trade. Al Nouran Holding will leverage this experience when it introduces the new production facility.
Mustafa Abdel-Wadood, managing director of Abraaj Capital, said the addition of a manufacturing facility to its existing trading and distribution capabilities would make Al Nouran Holding a vertically integrated group capable of servicing the entire value chain.
Al Nouran Holding represents Abraaj Capital’s third significant investment in the country. “By helping to meet domestic demand while also targeting export opportunities, Al Nouran Holding will make a substantial contribution to the economic well-being of Egypt and the wider region,” commented Abdel-Wadood.
Ashraf Mahmoud, CEO of Al Nouran Holding, said Abraaj Capital’s investment would enable his company to implement its ambitious plans for growth. “While remaining firmly committed to our employees, customers, suppliers and trade partners, we are aiming to become the world’s leading supplier of refined sugar and sugar byproducts,” he added.
Abraaj Capital acquired the stake through its Infrastructure and Growth Capital Fund (IGCF), which seeks to address the infrastructure requirements of the Menasa region in various sectors, including transportation, healthcare, water, manufacturing, petrochemicals, power and utilities, and education.
Abraaj Capital is currently one of the largest foreign investors in Egypt. Earlier this month, the firm acquired 100 per cent of Egyptian Fertilisers Company for $1.41 billion, the largest private equity transaction in the history of the Middle East and North Africa region. In September 2006, Abraaj became the single largest shareholder in leading investment bank EFG-Hermes by way of a capital increase bringing Abraaj’s own issued share capital to $1 billion. The company also owns a controlling stake in Spinneys Egypt.