EXCLUSIVE- Will Consolis be the first major foreign company to invest in the newly privatized railways? French infrastructure and utilities developer Consolis Group is looking to open a factory in Egypt to manufacture equipment and materials which will be used in railway development. The company has made an offer to the Egyptian Company for Pipes and Cement (Siegwart) to use some of its underutilized railway facilities to get the project off the ground, going so far as proposing a JV between them be formed, sources close to the talks tell Enterprise. Consolis is in talks with two unnamed US investors to come in on the project, they added. We can assume that Bain Capital Private Equity is one of those investors as it acquired a majority stake in Consolis back in 2017 from LBO France (pdf). While the Ismail Cabinet has been relying on foreign contractors to supply materials from abroad to overhaul the railway system, this is the first major investment we’ve heard of by a foreign company in the sector since it was opened up to private investment by the passing of the Railway Act.