UAE-based Nas Investment Holding intends to submit a mandatory tender offer for an additional 57.5% stake in EGX-listed fertilizers player EgyFert, the Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA) said in a statement (pdf) yesterday. If accepted, the additional 5.5 mn shares will give Nas a controlling 90% stake in the fertilizer company.

The transaction would be valued at EGP 522.5 mn, with Nas offering to purchase EgyFert’s shares at EGP 95.0 apiece that in turn valued the company at some EGP 912 mn.

The offer price is almost exactly in line with the company’s share price of EGP 95.6 at the end of trading last week, but a good 4.6% below the EGP 99.56 by the time the EGX closed yesterday as the shares in the company rose 4.7% following the news.

The acquisition would ensure that EgyFert’s shares remain listed on the Egyptian stock exchange, the statement reads.

Nas has only been a shareholder in the company for just over two months, after the company acquired a 32.5% stake in EgyFert back in October, purchasing 3.1 mn of phosphate exporting company MidFert Misr’s shares in the fertilizers producer. The company paid EGP 60 per share, putting the transaction value at some EGP 186.6 mn.

Nas Investment Holding now has 60 (-1) days to submit its offer, as per authority regulations.

2025 is already shaping up to be a year marked by increased investor interest in the country’s fertilizer industry, with China’s Asia Potash International Investment unveiled plans to set up a phosphate fertilizer industrial complex in Upper Egypt set to have a final investment ticket of USD 7-10 bn, whose first phase alone will cost USD 1.6 bn.

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