Raya zeroes in on Ostool exit

Raya Holding is edging toward closing the loop on a six-year-long Ostool divestment saga. The EGX-listed conglomerate lined up BoD approval to offload its 90% stake in Ostool Transport and Logistics to one of the subsidiaries of Qalaa Holdings’ EGX-listed industrial mining outfit Ascom Mining Group for EGP 641 mn, it said in a bourse filing (pdf). Raya Trade holds 1% of the offloaded stake and its corporate parent owns the remaining 89%. Ascom first submitted the offer in June of last year.

What’s new? The BoD signed off on the independent fair value study prepared by Prime Capital and cleared by the Financial Regulatory Authority. The transaction values the freight firm at roughly EGP 8.22 per share, marking a 30.5% premium over its EGP 6.3 fair value.

Raya’s attempts to exit land logistics stretch back to February 2020, when it agreed to sell half of its 62.3% stake at the time to a British Virgin Islands-registered outfit called Paradigm Logistics for EGP 133 mn at EGP 10.7 per share. By April 2021, Raya was offering its entire stake for EGP 266.6 mn at EGP 4.94 per share — a noticeable drop in share price for a larger block — before the transaction collapsed in 2022 after Paradigm failed to transfer the funds on time.

Raya took a sharp U-turn in December 2023 and consolidated its Ostool stake to 90% by buying out Egyptian Gulf Holding Financial Investments — EGBank’s investment arm. At the time, CFO Hossam Hussein told EnterpriseAM the move was driven by Ostool’s improving performance.

Going home: Ostool — which provides land transport and fleet services to construction, energy, and industrial players — was founded in 2010 as a JV between Raya and Qalaa. After a six-year divestment orbit, the logistics firm may be returning home to a unit under Qalaa’s umbrella.

ALSO- Raya Venture Capital got the OK to launch a new 49-51 fintech startup with Disruptech Ventures, backed by an initial issued capital of USD 2 mn. The BoD also signed off on a new AI venture, capitalized at EGP 250 mn, and a cybersecurity spin-off under Raya IT, capitalized at EGP 1 mn.

MARKET REAX- Raya Holding's stock shed 3.29% yesterday to 7.35, while Ascom’s share price fell 2.5% to 48.72.