El Nozha Int’l bucking acquisition offer from Cleopatra?

El Nozha Int’l bucking acquisition offer from Cleopatra? Cleopatra Hospitals’ bid to acquire El Nozha International Hospital is apparently hostile, with Al Borsa reporting that it has seen a copy of a complaint El Noza has filed with the Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA) alleging that its shares were subject to stock market manipulation in the run up to Cleo’s filing of a mandatory tender offer to acquire 100% of the 110-bed Heliopolis hospital. The newspaper reports that El Nozha claims its shares dropped 25% in value to EGP 60 per share in the two months before Cleopatra Hospitals Group filed its bid. Al Borsa says Cleopatra Hospitals had nothing to do with the pre-offer transactions and emphasizes that the MTO met all requirements of the Capital Markets Act.

On a related note, FRA had apparently requested that Cleopatra Hospital Group seek approval from the Health Ministry for the MTO, according to sources close to the matter.