{"id":619898,"date":"2024-05-13T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-05-13T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2024\/05\/13\/the-inside-story-of-whats-really-happening-with-the-qalaa-holdings-debt-buyback\/"},"modified":"2024-05-13T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2024-05-13T00:00:00","slug":"the-inside-story-of-whats-really-happening-with-the-qalaa-holdings-debt-buyback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2024\/05\/13\/the-inside-story-of-whats-really-happening-with-the-qalaa-holdings-debt-buyback\/","title":{"rendered":"The inside story of what\u2019s really happening with the Qalaa Holdings debt buyback"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"padding:0;margin:0;line-height:1.15;orphans:2;widows:2;text-align:left\"> <strong>Ahmed Heik<\/strong><strong>al is a bit taken <\/strong><strong>aback. <\/strong>He and his partners Hisham El-Khazindar and Karim Sadek have put together what he says is a pro-shareholder plan that will see Qalaa Holdings shed USD 430 mn in foreign-curency debt. But some in the market are having a hard time getting their heads around the transaction \u2014 and others are questioning its mechanics, which they say are convoluted. <\/p>\n<p style=\"padding:0;margin:0;line-height:1.15;orphans:2;widows:2;text-align:left\"><strong>The crux of the story: <\/strong>Qalaa has long struggled to repay debt it took out to finance the construction of the Egyptian Refining Co., its multi-bn USD greenfield refinery in Mostorod, as well as the growth of its portfolio. <\/p>\n<p style=\"padding:0;margin:0;line-height:1.15;orphans:2;widows:2;text-align:left\"><strong>Debt payments have eroded Qalaa\u2019s bottom line even as its businesses turned the corner <\/strong><strong>after covid:<\/strong> Higher interest rates at home and abroad, combined with the depreciation of the EGP, saw Qalaa pay out EGP 7.1 bn in interest expenses last year alone, <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/ent.news\/2024\/5\/760.pdf\" style=\"\" rel=\"noopener\">according to its 2023 earnings release (pdf)<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding:0;margin:0;line-height:1.15;orphans:2;widows:2;text-align:left\"><strong>So what is Qalaa\u2019s management team proposing to do about it? <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Qalaa\u2019s anchor shareholders, who together own 23.5% of the firm, have set in <\/strong><strong>motion a series of transactions that will retire a USD 325 mn loan<\/strong> plus about USD 100 mn in accumulated interest that Qalaa had taken on. They\u2019re effectively paying 20 cents on the USD to retire the outstanding portion of the debt plus accumulated interest;<\/li>\n<li><strong>Other shareholders as of 27 May will have the chance to buy into the <\/strong><strong>transaction, too<\/strong>, by joining a debt purchase offer. Subscription is optional and is pro-rata to their holdings in Qalaa;<\/li>\n<li><strong>The catch: <\/strong>Shareholders who want to buy a piece of the debt will have pay in USD into an account held by Mashreq Bank in Dubai. (Editor's note: Subsequent to the publication of this story, the Financial Regulatory Authority announced that shareholders would be allowed to subscribe by paying in EGP in Egypt);<\/li>\n<li><strong>All debt holders will then swap the debt they buy for EGX-listed shares in Qalaa <\/strong><strong>Holding<\/strong>, with Heikal saying he, El-Khazindar, and Sadek are \u201clong Qalaa\u201d \u2014 the management team is agreeing to a two-year lockup post-transaction;<\/li>\n<li><strong>The mechanism is slightly circuitous<\/strong>, but Heikal said the result is that shareholders will own a company with a much stronger balance sheet that\u2019s better able to both <strong>pay dividends and invest in long-term growth<\/strong>. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"padding:0;margin:0;line-height:1.15;orphans:2;widows:2;text-align:left\"><strong>We spoke with Heikal yesterday <\/strong>to get the inside track on the transaction and why he thinks it\u2019s good for shareholders. Edited excerpts:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding:0;margin:0;line-height:1.15;orphans:2;widows:2;text-align:left\"><strong>ENTERPRISE: Where did this all begin? <\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding:0;margin:0;line-height:1.15;orphans:2;widows:2;text-align:left\"><strong>AHMED HEIKAL: <\/strong>It started in 2020, when we expected to see very strong inflows from ERC. We expected to make [redacted] loads of money. Instead, the bottom fell out of the oil market thanks to Covid-19, and we made [redacted] loads of losses. Nobody was consuming diesel, nobody was consuming aviation fuel. [Editor\u2019s note: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/a5292644-958d-4065-92e8-ace55d766654\" style=\"\" rel=\"noopener\">Oil prices turned negative for the first time in history<\/a> on 20 April 2020.] That started a process that eventually saw us sit down with our syndicate of seven lenders and tell them, \u201cWe want to extend the loan out to 10 years from 2022.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding:0;margin:0;line-height:1.15;orphans:2;widows:2;text-align:left\"><strong>E: How many banks took you up on that? <\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding:0;margin:0;line-height:1.15;orphans:2;widows:2;text-align:left\"><strong>AH: Four Egyptian banks said, \u201cNo, we\u2019d rather take assets instead.\u201d<\/strong> We did a valuation and, ultimately, paid them what they were owed \u2014 they took 18% of Taqa Arabia, some land worth EGP 600 mn, and EGP 600 mn in cash. Another Egyptian bank said, \u201cOkay, we buy your story \u2014 we\u2019ll amend the covenants and extend the loan if you provide additional securities,\u201d which we did. <\/p>\n<p style=\"padding:0;margin:0;line-height:1.15;orphans:2;widows:2;text-align:left\"><strong>E: That process took how much off your balance sheet? <\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding:0;margin:0;line-height:1.15;orphans:2;widows:2;text-align:left\"><strong>AH: <\/strong>About USD 200 mn between the asset sales and the amend-and-extend agreement with the one bank. <strong>That left us with USD 230 mn we owed to two foreign lenders<\/strong> \u2014 USD 131 mn in principal and a bit under USD 100 mn in accumulated interest. <\/p>\n<p style=\"padding:0;margin:0;line-height:1.15;orphans:2;widows:2;text-align:left\"><strong>They ultimately told us they couldn\u2019t amend or extend.<\/strong> Their charters wouldn\u2019t let them take assets and they weren\u2019t willing to sit with the loan for another ten years, so we negotiated an agreement that would see us pay them a lesser amount to sell us the debt. We\u2019re effectively paying 20 cents on the USD to cover the principal of the loan. <\/p>\n<p style=\"padding:0;margin:0;line-height:1.15;orphans:2;widows:2;text-align:left\"><strong>So, Qalaa is now in a position where it needs to come up with USD 28 mn in cash to get <\/strong><strong>USD 230 mn worth of debt off our balance sheet. <\/strong>That\u2019s USD 26.3 mn to acquire the debt and interest and about USD 1.7 mn in associated fees.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding:0;margin:0;line-height:1.15;orphans:2;widows:2;text-align:left\"><strong>E: So what\u2019s the transaction, exactly?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding:0;margin:0;line-height:1.15;orphans:2;widows:2;text-align:left\"><strong>AH: We\u2019re doing a promissory note. <\/strong>We\u2019ve set up Qalaa Holding Restructuring I Ltd. (QHRI) to buy up to 100% of the USD 28 mn worth of debt. Citadel Capital Partners, the vehicle through which Hisham, Karim, and I own our equity in Qalaa, will buy 23.5% of the debt \u2014 and we\u2019re opening it up to all other shareholders to participate pro-rata. For example, someone who owns shares equivalent to 0.1% of Qalaa can buy 0.1% of the debt.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding:0;margin:0;line-height:1.15;orphans:2;widows:2;text-align:left\"><strong>Shareholders as of 27 May <\/strong><strong>will <\/strong><strong>then swap their debt for equity in Qalaa. <\/strong>And at the request of the Financial Regulatory Authority, we\u2019re also extending that eligibility to people who sold Qalaa shares on 7-9 May. The swap will take place through a capital increase at EGP 5 per share once that\u2019s approved by the general assembly scheduled for 30 May.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding:0;margin:0;line-height:1.15;orphans:2;widows:2;text-align:left\"><strong>E: What if you don\u2019t hit 100% coverage on the debt sale? <\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding:0;margin:0;line-height:1.15;orphans:2;widows:2;text-align:left\"><strong>AH: <\/strong>Citadel Capital Partners will cover any portion that\u2019s left on the table. <\/p>\n<p style=\"padding:0;margin:0;line-height:1.15;orphans:2;widows:2;text-align:left\"><strong>E: QHRI is a British Virgin Islands company. Why are you using an offshore <\/strong><strong>special-purpose vehicle (SPV) to do the transaction? <\/strong>And what\u2019s with the requirement that it be paid into a Mashreq Bank account in Dubai? <\/p>\n<p style=\"padding:0;margin:0;line-height:1.15;orphans:2;widows:2;text-align:left\"><strong>AH: First, we need to be able to give the two banks their money offshore<\/strong> \u2014 they don\u2019t want it in Egyptian accounts, they want it fully repatriated. And secondly, can you imagine the KYC [know your client] nightmare associated with dealing with 10k shareholders if you\u2019re a bank? The cleanest, simplest solution was for Citadel Capital Partners to set up an offshore vehicle to get this done \u2014 we\u2019re all KYC\u2019ed and it\u2019s a much simpler transaction for us to buy the debt.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding:0;margin:0;line-height:1.15;orphans:2;widows:2;text-align:left\"><strong>Second, <\/strong><strong>banks <\/strong><strong>in Egypt today will <\/strong><strong>be reluctant to take the<\/strong><strong> responsibility of having USD in their <\/strong><strong>accounts and then transferring USD 28 mn abr<\/strong><strong>oad. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding:0;margin:0;line-height:1.15;orphans:2;widows:2;text-align:left\"><strong>I know that\u2019s not a very nice feature of the transaction<\/strong>, I do. But it is what it is: When it\u2019s time to press the button and repay the banks, we need to know the money will move. <strong>I expect you\u2019ll see a process of consolidation between now and 27 May<\/strong>, where shareholders who have the ability to pay USD offshore for the debt transaction will buy shares in Egypt in EGP from others who don\u2019t have that ability.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding:0;margin:0;line-height:1.15;orphans:2;widows:2;text-align:left\"><strong>E: So you\u2019re not taking Qalaa\u2019s ownership offshore? <\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding:0;margin:0;line-height:1.15;orphans:2;widows:2;text-align:left\"><strong>AH: No, of course not. <\/strong>We made this very clear in our first disclosure. QHRI will convert the debt into EGP and assign it to each shareholder so they can subscribe to an EGP-denominated capital increase on the Egyptian Exchange. QHRI will be dissolved after this transaction.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding:0;margin:0;line-height:1.15;orphans:2;widows:2;text-align:left\"><strong>E: What does your balance sheet look like after this transaction? <\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding:0;margin:0;line-height:1.15;orphans:2;widows:2;text-align:left\"><strong>AH: Much, much stronger, I\u2019ll say that. <\/strong>Total debt on the balance sheet will decline by about USD 1.1 bn this year as a combined result of this transaction, of USD 500 mn in ERC cash repayments, and other transactions that were disclosed recently. <strong>It could free up some USD 88 mn in interest expenses <\/strong>\u2014 money that falls straight to the bottom line. After this restructuring, Qalaa Holdings will be essentially without debt. <\/p>\n<p style=\"padding:0;margin:0;line-height:1.15;orphans:2;widows:2;text-align:left\"><strong>And we\u2019re doing the capital increase at EGP 5 when the share price is at EGP 2.60<\/strong>, so this is value accretive to all shareholders. <strong>The net asset value of Qalaa Holding post this transaction will be a number of times higher than the current share price.<\/strong> That\u2019s the real story here. <\/p>\n<p style=\"padding:0;margin:0;line-height:1.15;orphans:2;widows:2;text-align:left\"><strong>E: What\u2019s next for Qalaa after this transaction? <\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding:0;margin:0;line-height:1.15;orphans:2;widows:2;text-align:left\"><strong>AH: Nothing much changes, we\u2019ll just be executing from a much stronger position. <\/strong>We\u2019re still building export champions. We\u2019re driving growth through small, incremental investments in subsidiaries. And we\u2019re particularly interested in a handful of medium-sized, export-oriented, and predominantly green investments with high local value-added components \u2014 all of these will be executed at the subsidiary level. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ahmed Heikal says the transaction will be good for shareholders as the company looks to shed up to USD 1.1 bn in debt this year<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":619899,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"single-feature.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"_primary_brand":0,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7303],"tags":[1805,102,72,613],"brand":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"class_list":["post-619898","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-capital-markets","tag-ahmed-heikal","tag-capital-markets","tag-enterpriseam","tag-qalaa-holdings","wpautop","entry"],"acf":{"mongo_id":"a12cc802-2c68-489e-8114-d91e647ee836","order":"4","is_powered_by":false,"story_type":"1","photo_url":"https:\/\/ent.news\/2024\/5\/857.jpg","photo_position":"above","homepage_title":"","full_issue_title":"The inside story of what\u2019s really happening with the Qalaa Holdings debt buyback","related_issue":[619893],"teaser":"Ahmed Heikal says the transaction will be good for shareholders as the company looks to shed up to USD 1.1 bn in debt this year","voice_url":"https:\/\/s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/ent.news\/audio\/2024\/6\/.a5d98f13-7cce-4a45-a1ef-0c4dda1513af.mp3"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.1 (Yoast SEO v27.1.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The inside story of what\u2019s really happening with the Qalaa Holdings debt buyback - EnterpriseAM Egypt<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2024\/05\/13\/the-inside-story-of-whats-really-happening-with-the-qalaa-holdings-debt-buyback\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The inside story of what\u2019s really happening with the Qalaa Holdings debt buyback\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ahmed Heikal says the transaction will be good for shareholders as the company looks to shed up to USD 1.1 bn in debt this year\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2024\/05\/13\/the-inside-story-of-whats-really-happening-with-the-qalaa-holdings-debt-buyback\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"EnterpriseAM Egypt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-05-13T00:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2024\/5\/857.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"enterpriseam admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"enterpriseam admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2024\/05\/13\/the-inside-story-of-whats-really-happening-with-the-qalaa-holdings-debt-buyback\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2024\/05\/13\/the-inside-story-of-whats-really-happening-with-the-qalaa-holdings-debt-buyback\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"enterpriseam admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/#\/schema\/person\/ca597032db7e4db868359c123cec256d\"},\"headline\":\"The inside story of what\u2019s really happening with the Qalaa Holdings debt buyback\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-05-13T00:00:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2024\/05\/13\/the-inside-story-of-whats-really-happening-with-the-qalaa-holdings-debt-buyback\/\"},\"wordCount\":1418,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2024\/05\/13\/the-inside-story-of-whats-really-happening-with-the-qalaa-holdings-debt-buyback\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2024\/5\/857.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1\",\"keywords\":[\"Ahmed Heikal\",\"capital markets\",\"EnterpriseAM\",\"Qalaa Holdings\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Capital markets\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2024\/05\/13\/the-inside-story-of-whats-really-happening-with-the-qalaa-holdings-debt-buyback\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2024\/05\/13\/the-inside-story-of-whats-really-happening-with-the-qalaa-holdings-debt-buyback\/\",\"name\":\"The inside story of what\u2019s really happening with the Qalaa Holdings debt buyback - EnterpriseAM Egypt\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2024\/05\/13\/the-inside-story-of-whats-really-happening-with-the-qalaa-holdings-debt-buyback\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2024\/05\/13\/the-inside-story-of-whats-really-happening-with-the-qalaa-holdings-debt-buyback\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2024\/5\/857.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-05-13T00:00:00+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2024\/05\/13\/the-inside-story-of-whats-really-happening-with-the-qalaa-holdings-debt-buyback\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2024\/05\/13\/the-inside-story-of-whats-really-happening-with-the-qalaa-holdings-debt-buyback\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2024\/05\/13\/the-inside-story-of-whats-really-happening-with-the-qalaa-holdings-debt-buyback\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2024\/5\/857.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2024\/5\/857.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2024\/05\/13\/the-inside-story-of-whats-really-happening-with-the-qalaa-holdings-debt-buyback\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The inside story of what\u2019s really happening with the Qalaa Holdings debt buyback\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/\",\"name\":\"EnterpriseAM\",\"description\":\"The State of the Nation\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/#organization\",\"name\":\"EnterpriseAM\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ent.news\/internal\/240894.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/ent.news\/internal\/240894.svg\",\"caption\":\"EnterpriseAM\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/#\/schema\/person\/ca597032db7e4db868359c123cec256d\",\"name\":\"enterpriseam admin\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/enterpriseam.testing.projectsarea.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/author\/enterpriseam\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The inside story of what\u2019s really happening with the Qalaa Holdings debt buyback - EnterpriseAM Egypt","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2024\/05\/13\/the-inside-story-of-whats-really-happening-with-the-qalaa-holdings-debt-buyback\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The inside story of what\u2019s really happening with the Qalaa Holdings debt buyback","og_description":"Ahmed Heikal says the transaction will be good for shareholders as the company looks to shed up to USD 1.1 bn in debt this year","og_url":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2024\/05\/13\/the-inside-story-of-whats-really-happening-with-the-qalaa-holdings-debt-buyback\/","og_site_name":"EnterpriseAM Egypt","article_published_time":"2024-05-13T00:00:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2024\/5\/857.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"enterpriseam admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"enterpriseam admin","Est. reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2024\/05\/13\/the-inside-story-of-whats-really-happening-with-the-qalaa-holdings-debt-buyback\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2024\/05\/13\/the-inside-story-of-whats-really-happening-with-the-qalaa-holdings-debt-buyback\/"},"author":{"name":"enterpriseam admin","@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/#\/schema\/person\/ca597032db7e4db868359c123cec256d"},"headline":"The inside story of what\u2019s really happening with the Qalaa Holdings debt buyback","datePublished":"2024-05-13T00:00:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2024\/05\/13\/the-inside-story-of-whats-really-happening-with-the-qalaa-holdings-debt-buyback\/"},"wordCount":1418,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2024\/05\/13\/the-inside-story-of-whats-really-happening-with-the-qalaa-holdings-debt-buyback\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2024\/5\/857.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1","keywords":["Ahmed Heikal","capital markets","EnterpriseAM","Qalaa Holdings"],"articleSection":["Capital markets"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2024\/05\/13\/the-inside-story-of-whats-really-happening-with-the-qalaa-holdings-debt-buyback\/","url":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2024\/05\/13\/the-inside-story-of-whats-really-happening-with-the-qalaa-holdings-debt-buyback\/","name":"The inside story of what\u2019s really happening with the Qalaa Holdings debt buyback - EnterpriseAM Egypt","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2024\/05\/13\/the-inside-story-of-whats-really-happening-with-the-qalaa-holdings-debt-buyback\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2024\/05\/13\/the-inside-story-of-whats-really-happening-with-the-qalaa-holdings-debt-buyback\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2024\/5\/857.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1","datePublished":"2024-05-13T00:00:00+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2024\/05\/13\/the-inside-story-of-whats-really-happening-with-the-qalaa-holdings-debt-buyback\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2024\/05\/13\/the-inside-story-of-whats-really-happening-with-the-qalaa-holdings-debt-buyback\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2024\/05\/13\/the-inside-story-of-whats-really-happening-with-the-qalaa-holdings-debt-buyback\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2024\/5\/857.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2024\/5\/857.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2024\/05\/13\/the-inside-story-of-whats-really-happening-with-the-qalaa-holdings-debt-buyback\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The inside story of what\u2019s really happening with the Qalaa Holdings debt buyback"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/#website","url":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/","name":"EnterpriseAM","description":"The State of the Nation","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/#organization","name":"EnterpriseAM","url":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/ent.news\/internal\/240894.svg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ent.news\/internal\/240894.svg","caption":"EnterpriseAM"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/#\/schema\/person\/ca597032db7e4db868359c123cec256d","name":"enterpriseam admin","sameAs":["http:\/\/enterpriseam.testing.projectsarea.com"],"url":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/author\/enterpriseam\/"}]}},"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2024\/5\/857.jpg?resize=600%2C400&ssl=1","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2024\/5\/857.jpg?resize=600%2C600&ssl=1","author_info":{"display_name":"enterpriseam admin","author_link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/author\/enterpriseam\/"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2024\/5\/857.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":623713,"url":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2024\/06\/10\/qalaa-shareholders-have-bought-over-81-of-its-debt-in-first-subscription-round\/","url_meta":{"origin":619898,"position":0},"title":"Qalaa shareholders have bought over 81% of its debt in first subscription round","author":"enterpriseam admin","date":"10 June 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"The debt buyback program is part of Qalaa\u2019s plan to retire some USD 430 mn in foreign-currency debt","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Capital markets&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Capital markets","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/category\/industries\/capital-markets\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2024\/6\/782.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":604362,"url":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2018\/12\/02\/qalaa-to-invest-egp-30-bn-over-three-years-says-heikal\/","url_meta":{"origin":619898,"position":1},"title":"Qalaa to invest EGP 30 bn over three years, says Heikal","author":"enterpriseam admin","date":"2 December 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"INVESTMENT WATCH- Qalaa to invest EGP 30 bn over three years: Qalaa Holdings is planning to invest EGP 30 bn over the coming three years, Chairman Ahmed Heikal said. That includes capital earmarked for subsidiary Egyptian Refining Company\u2019s USD 4.3 bn refinery in Mostorod, which is currently around 98% complete,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Speed Round&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Speed Round","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/category\/speed-round\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/internal\/536550.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":622593,"url":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2018\/10\/08\/qalaa-could-list-taqa-erc-in-4q2019-says-heikal\/","url_meta":{"origin":619898,"position":2},"title":"Qalaa could list TAQA, ERC in 4Q2019, says Heikal","author":"enterpriseam admin","date":"8 October 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"** #3 IPO WATCH- Qalaa could list TAQA, ERC in 4Q2019, says Heikal: The reasonable assumption on a date for the listing of Qalaa Holdings\u2019 TAQA Arabia and the parent company of the Egyptian Refining Company (ERC) should be 4Q2019, market conditions permitting, said Qalaa Holdings Founder and Chairman Ahmed\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Speed Round&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Speed Round","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/category\/speed-round\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2018\/10\/1009.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":644051,"url":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2024\/09\/19\/qalaa-holdings-sees-revenues-income-rise-in-1q-2024\/","url_meta":{"origin":619898,"position":3},"title":"Qalaa Holdings sees revenues, income rise in 1Q 2024","author":"enterpriseam admin","date":"19 September 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Qalaa Holdings saw its net income after minority interest jump to EGP 7.2 bn","rel":"","context":"In &quot;EARNINGS WATCH&quot;","block_context":{"text":"EARNINGS WATCH","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/category\/companies\/earnings-watch\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2024\/9\/1511.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":637223,"url":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2017\/11\/12\/qalaa-holdings-erc-plans-to-open-refinery-in-september-2018\/","url_meta":{"origin":619898,"position":4},"title":"Qalaa Holdings\u2019 ERC plans to open refinery in September 2018","author":"enterpriseam admin","date":"12 November 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"In other energy news, the Egyptian Refining Company (ERC) is expected to begin operations in September 2018, said Ahmed Heikal, chairman of Qalaa Holdings, which has led the development of the megaproject and which holds a 19% stake in the facility. The USD 3.7 bn plant in Mastorod, which hopes\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Speed Round&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Speed Round","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/category\/speed-round\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/internal\/536550.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":623867,"url":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2024\/06\/12\/phase-two-of-qalaas-debt-buyback-program-oversubscribed\/","url_meta":{"origin":619898,"position":5},"title":"Phase two of Qalaa\u2019s debt buyback program oversubscribed","author":"enterpriseam admin","date":"12 June 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"The debt buyback program is part of Qalaa\u2019s plan to retire some USD 430 mn in foreign-currency debt","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Capital markets&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Capital markets","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/category\/industries\/capital-markets\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2024\/6\/1113.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619898","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=619898"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619898\/revisions"}],"acf:post":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issue\/619893"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/619899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=619898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=619898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=619898"},{"taxonomy":"brand","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/brand?post=619898"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=619898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}