M&A WATCH- Americana Egypt appoints new financial adviser to conduct valuation ahead of Adeptio MTO: The Egyptian Company for International Tourism Projects (Americana Egypt) has selected an unnamed financial adviser to conduct a fair valuation of the company ahead of Adeptio’s mandatory tender offer (MTO) for minority shares in the company, according to an EGX disclosure (pdf). The fair valuation is expected to be completed in 45 days before being submitted to the Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA) for approval. The news comes six months after the regulator rejected Adeptio’s previous EGP 3.9 per share offer price, and suspended its financial advisor FinCorp for three months because of its “unfair” fair value assessment.

Background: The FRA ordered Adeptio to submit an MTO to buy shares in Americana Egypt in early 2019, after they gained indirect ownership of the majority of the company due to acquiring a 67% stake in Kuwait Food Company (Americana) in June 2016. Adeptio claimed that did not require an MTO submission, but after a few rejected appeals submitted an initial offer price of EGP 3.9 per share based on Fincorp’s study. Americana’s minority shareholders signaled they would only be satisfied with an offer in the range of EGP 24 per share, and demanded that Adeptio revalue the company.