The Middle East's largest agri-food industrial complex is coming to Sadat City: MAFI Agricultural Produce Industries (MAFI) founder Ahmed Abou Hashima signed contracts with several international companies to set up a USD 300 mn agri-food industrial complex run by MAFI in Sadat City, according to a cabinet statement last week.

The details: The complex in Elsewedy Industrial Development’s industrial park is slated to be the largest in the Middle East and could create as many as 7k direct and indirect jobs. The project will produce 100k tons of agri-food products annually in its first phase, with more than 80% of the production earmarked for export, the cabinet statement reads.

The complex will be home to five factories:

  • The largest factory in Egypt for tomato concentrates;
  • The largest plant in Egypt for citrus concentrates;
  • The first individual quick-freezing facility in Egypt;
  • The first factory for cloudy concentrates in the region;
  • A freeze-drying products plant.

All eyes are on exports: Beltone Investment Banking — MAFI’s sole financial advisor — and established industrial investor Abou Hashima explored several export-oriented industries, before settling on the fully-integrated food processing complex, Betlone’s group deputy CEO and head of investment banking, Mohamed Aboulfadl told Enterprise. The new complex will also help Egypt climb the value chain by exporting value-added food products in larger volumes, instead of just exporting raw produce, Aboulfadl added.

BACKGROUND- Before the relatively recent (and ongoing) buildout of logistics and cold-chain infrastructure, as much as half of all produce grown in Upper Egypt and some other parts of the country would spoil on the way to market in Cairo. On the value chain side: We are world-class exporters of citrus, strawberries, and other fruits, but have struggled to gain a foothold in value-added products. Abou Hashima rose to prominence as an entrepreneur with high-profile investments in Egyptian Cement and Egyptian Steel. Egypt’s agriculture and agrifoods businesses are notorious underperformers.

FDI incoming: The new complex is a partnership between Abou Hashima and a “foreign partner” who will bring the vast majority of equity contribution as a foreign direct investment. Beltone Investment Banking is currently working with MAFI to raise international and local debt financing, Aboulfadl added.

More to come: The complex is expected to be operational within 18 months, with a plan to expand the capacity of the five factories and add more factories in a second phase. The complex is targeting B2B clients mainly in Europe, the US, and GCC, Aboulfadl added.

Who is involved: The project, on which Beltone Investment Banking is advisor, brings together some of the world’s big names in agri-food business processing solutions as technology providers, including Germany’s GEA, Chicago-based JBT, and Denmark’sCabinplant. Boston Consulting Group acted as the market advisor for MAFI.

Go deeper: Beltone has a statement (pdf) out on the project.

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