What’s next for B Investments’ stake in Gourmet? Private Equity firm B Investments is looking to either fully exit or increase its 53% stake in its subsidiary Gourmet — the parent company of high-end supermarket Gourmet Egypt — Hapi Journal reports, citing unnamed sources.

This wasn't what we had initially heard: We heard at the end of last week that B Investments was planning to sell a 20-30% stake in Gourmet from an unconfirmed media report.

Another layer to the story: Gourmet founder Jalal Abu Ghazaleh and owner of the remaining 47% stake has reportedly tapped EFG Hermes to manage the sale of a stake in the food retailing and manufacturing group this year.

B Investments could swing either way: B Investments may choose to purchase Abu Ghazaleh’s stake in the company or it could offload its entire stake in the company, the sources said, adding that B Investments selling just a percentage of its stake in the company seems unlikely seeing as it would make it a minority owner.

Enterprise was not able to confirm the news, with representatives from EFG Hermes and B Investments refusing to comment on the matter when we reached out to them.

Gourmet is a growing business: The high-quality food emporium was founded in 2006 and currently operates 19 branches, as well as a meat and poultry processing facility and ready-meal production factory. B Investments acquired a 40% stake in the company towards the end of 2018 at an estimated cost of EGP 65 mn, the acquisition was followed by a capital increase which pushed B Investments’ stake in the company to 53%. Gourmet currently has a valuation of EGP 1.5 bn, Hapi Journal’s source said.

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