Alabbar, Saudis gobble up 25% of shares on offer from Eastern Company stake sale: Emirati businessman and chairman of Emaar Properties Mohamed Alabbar, along with a number of unamed Saudi Arabian investors, have bought 25% of shares in the institutional offering of Eastern Company’s stake sale that took place last weekend, according to a statement from Sarie-Eldin & Partners picked up by Arabic Reuters. The investors paid EGP 400 mn to acquire the shares in the institutional offering, which was 1.8x oversubscribed, the law firm, which advised the investors on the transactions said. “Alabbar is keen to work with all of Eastern Company’s shareholders to boost shareholder value,” the statement said. The statement is another sign at the success of the share sale, and the ability of the state privatization program to draw in investors.

Eastern share sale rakes in EGP 1.7 bn: Both the institutional and public offerings of the company’s share sale raked in a total of EGP 1.7 bn, the EGX said on Wednesday. The public offering of the stake sale, which piloted the long-awaited state privatization program, was 4.27x oversubscribed, the EGX said on Tuesday.

Potential regional expansion on the horizon for Eastern Company? Alabbar is looking to obtain licenses to manufacture cigarettes and other tobacco products in the GCC and in Iraq, said the statement. This could hint at a regional expansion for the company down the road.