MTI joins with B Investments to invest in pharma sector: EGX-listed firm MM Group for Industry and International Trade(MTI) is set to acquire a 40% stake in B Investments subsidiary B Pharma for EGP 205 mn, it said in an EGX disclosure (pdf) yesterday . MTI’s board of directors has approved the acquisition and its CEO is on course to sign the investment and subscription agreement. This values the firm at some EGP 512.5 mn, according to our math.

It’s a 40-60 split: B Pharma is set to be a joint venture between MTI and B Investments, with the latter set to hold a 60% stake, MTI’s investor relations head Ashraf El Ghannam told us.

B Pharma? Conceived recently by private equity firm B Investments, B Pharma is an SPV with a mandate to invest in the pharma sector, according to B Investments’ IR Head Omar El Labban, who told us that it will invest in El Ezaby Pharmacy. It will invest EGP 500 mn in an investment platform that B Investments established jointly with the Sovereign Fund of Egypt (SFE), with that platform in turn owning a 49% stake in El Ezaby pharmacies.

Remember: The SFE’s healthcare sub-fund and private equity firm B Investments in May set up EZ International, a pharma logistics and distribution firm in partnership with El Ezaby. This came a few weeks after the private equity outfit agreed to invest up to EGP 500 mn in the SFE’s sub-fund under two separate agreements.

B Pharma to get off the ground very soon: B Investments and MTI will complete the capitalization of B Pharma in the next few days, El Labban said.

Big plans ahead: B Pharma and the SFE aim to expand El Ezaby’s presence, with plans to double the number of its branches to 500 over the next five years, El Labban said.

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