The Egyptian Belgian Company has new Saudi owners: Saudi food conglomerate Savola has signed an agreement to acquire 100% of the Egyptian Belgian Company — best known for its Ole-branded baked goods — for EGP 622.4 mn, its advisor, Al Ahly Pharos, said in a statement (pdf) Thursday.

Savola isn’t new to our market: The company is behind popular local cooking oil, ghee, pasta, and sugar brands including Rawabi ghee, Afia oils, and El Maleka and Italiano pastas. Its products are sold across the region, including in the Gulf, Sudan, and Turkey. The company has been looking at acquiring more food companies in Egypt since last year, saying at the time it would look at companies who produce items not covered by its existing portfolio.

What’s next: Savola plans to pour EGP 740 mn into the factory it acquired from Ole, which is set to reopen within six months, Savola Chief Strategy Officer Mohamed Badran was quoted as saying by Al Borsa. Savola hopes to achieve sales from the factory of around EGP 2 bn annually, worth some 16% of the local baked goods’ market, according to Badran.

ADVISORS- Al Ahly Pharos acted as exclusive buy-side advisor to Savola on the transaction, while Zilla Capital was sell-side advisor. Zaki Hashem & Partners provided counsel to the buyer and Adsero was sell-side counsel. The National Bank of Egypt was the escrow agent for the transaction.