GB Auto is restarting negotiations with a number of international partners to assess implementing an expansion plan that includes building a tire factory in Egypt, Chief Investment Officer Menatalla Sadek told Al Mal. Sadek expects technical negotiations to begin in 2018 and says preliminary estimates suggest that the factory would cost USD 600 mn and take two-and-a-half years to complete. She added GB Auto expects reforms like the Investment Act and the automotive directive to improve the investment climate domestically. GB Auto had denied a report in December that it had already been allocated land to for a tire factory in Suez.