M&A WATCH- Ernst & Young values Americana Egypt’s shares at EGP 5 apiece: Ernst & Young has valued the Egyptian Company for International Touristic Projects’ (Americana Egypt) share price at EGP 5 after it finalized a fair value report, the Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA) said in a filing to the EGX (pdf). The FRA is currently reviewing the report to determine whether to accept an MTO for 100% of Americana Egypt’s shares. Ernst & Young was selected for the job last April after Fincorp, which was hired to determine a value for the MTO, was suspended by the FRA for understating the share price.

Background: The authority ordered the UAE’s Adeptio AD Investments to launch the MTO when the latter acquired a 67% stake in Americana Egypt’s parent, the Kuwait Food Company (Americana). Adeptio claimed it should not be required to submit an MTO, but after repeated denied appeals, the company submitted an offer based on a study by Fincorp that valued the target’s shares at EGP 3.9 apiece. Americana’s minority shareholders rejected the price, claiming that the value is somewhere in the region of EGP 24 per share.