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The Sovereign Fund of Egypt (SFE) has acquired a 49% stake in leading pharma chain El Ezaby Pharmacy, El Ezaby Chairman Ahmed El Ezaby said in a televised interview last night. The investment will enable the company to roughly double its branch count to 600, he told El Hekaya’s Amr Adib (watch, runtime: 7:28), without disclosing the size of the SFE’s investment.
The company turned down several offers from other sovereign wealth funds, he added.
Meet EZ International: The SFE’s healthcare sub fund and private equity firm B Investments are setting up a pharma logistics and distribution firm in partnership with El Ezaby, according to a joint press release (pdf).
A one-stop shop for the pharma industry: EZ International will offer everything from logistics and administrative support to trade and distribution services to local pharma companies, according to the statement. It will first roll out to El Ezaby’s 250+ branches nationwide before expanding to another 250 local pharmacies.
Financial + ownership details TBC:The statement didn’t disclose the size of the partners’ initial investments and respective stakes in the new venture, but said that the two “are moving ahead with a two-year capital increase plan” to support the new company. Representatives from SFE and B Investments didn’t respond to our inquiries when we reached out yesterday.
What they said: “We look forward to working together closely [with El Ezaby] to expand locally and regionally. Through this partnership, we offer independent pharmacies a new business model that supports their growth and business development.” said SFE head Ayman Soliman.
The SFE and B Investments are a public-private pharma power couple: The sovereign fund and B Investments in January agreed to together channel more than EGP 2 bn into local healthcare and pharma businesses. The PE firm’s board in March signed off on investing up to EGP 500 mn in the SFE’s sub-fund as part of the two agreements. The SFE is looking to draw an initial EGP 1.2 bn for the sub-fund, and hopes to raise additional capital down the line.
