Gulf Cement’s shareholders signed off on TC Mena Holding’s conditional takeover bid for the remaining 62.4% stake in the company, according to a filing (pdf) to the bourse. The acquisition will see TC Mena Holding, a unit of Italy’s Buzzi Unicem unit and Gulf Cement’s largest shareholder, boost its holding in Gulf Cement to up to 100% from its current 37.6% stake in the cash-strapped company.

On sweeter terms: This comes after TC raised its offer price to AED 0.75 per share earlier this week — up 33.92% from the initial bid. The revised bid gives the transaction a value of AED 192.3 mn, and the company a valuation of AED 307.9 mn up from AED 229.9 mn.

ADVISORS- Emirates NBD is quarterbacking the transaction as financial advisor, lead manager and receiving agent with Ibrahim N Partners providing legal counsel.

Market reax: Gulf Cement’s shares closed up 1.68% yesterday to trade at AED 0.73.

IN OTHER M&A NEWS-

Hong Kong-headquartered business services provider Encor Group acquired UAE-based corporate services provider Creative Zone as part of a push into high-growth markets, according to a press release. The size of the transaction wasn’t made public.

The rationale: Backed by Asian private equity firm Nexus Point, Encor is looking to connect its Asian network with the booming Gulf corporate services sector, where Creative Zone has already supported over 75k entrepreneurs and recently expanded into Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Creative Zone’s current management team will remain in place post-acquisition, with CEO Lorenzo Jooris joining Encor’s executive leadership. UAE-based Arrow Capital acted as exclusive advisor and took a minority stake in the transaction.

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