Ezz Steel on its alleged acquisition plans — take two: Steel giant Ezz Steel has not made any offers to acquire additional shares in its subsidiary Ezz Dekheila Steel, it said in an EGX disclosure (pdf) yesterday. A company source at Ezz Steel told Enterprise the same earlier this week, saying that Ezz Steel had neither made nor received a formal acquisition offer and did not initiate a valuation of Ezz Dekheila. This was in response to media reports this week that Ezz Dekheila had been valued at more than EGP 20 bn ahead of a potential acquisition.

Ezz Dekheila Steel also denied knowledge of the plan yesterday, saying in a disclosure (pdf) that none of its shareholders have notified it of a potential stake sale. This is the second time in six weeks the companies have denied knowledge of reports in the media over a potential stake sale.

Background: The Sovereign Fund of Egypt received a preliminary valuation of Ezz Dekheila, Asharq Business reported earlier this week, without clarifying the sovereign wealth fund’s role in the transaction.News of a potential stake sale broke last month when several local outlets reported that Ezz Steel was in negotiations with the government to purchase the shares in Ezz Dekheila held by the National Investment Bank (NIB) and the National Bank of Egypt (NBE). A government source confirmed to us the existence of the talks at the time.

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