Back to the complete issue
Tuesday, 14 June 2022

Bye, WM. Wink wink, Chimera

Beltone halts WM due diligence after Chimera enters the chat: Beltone Financial has suspended the WM Consultancy-led consortium from doing due diligence after receiving a rival offer from Chimera Investments on Sunday. The financial services company had given WM the go-ahead to start due diligence last week but has been allowed by the Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA) to temporarily halt the process while it considers Chimera’s bid, according to a statement (pdf) from the regulator yesterday.

Chimera’s offer is better than WM’s: The Abu Dhabi-based investment firm has offered to purchase 51-90% of the company for EGP 1.49, a 10% premium on the EGP 1.35 bid submitted by WM and valuing it at around EGP 690 mn, by our math.

And there’s no due diligence involved: Chimera has not requested to do due diligence on Beltone ahead of a potential acquisition, according to the statement.

Beltone’s shares rose 11.2% during trading yesterday following the news, and are up 21% since 5 June when WM submitted its offer.

A word from the major shareholder: Orascom Financial Holding, which owns 58% of Beltone, said in a disclosure (pdf) yesterday that it will make the final decision on the offer following Chimera’s investment study.

How much would Chimera have to fork out? The value of the transaction would be up to EGP 619.4 mn.

Where this all started: An investor alliance led by WM submitted a non-binding offer to acquire 51-90% of the company for EGP 1.35 a share earlier this month. The “strategic investors” in the consortium remain largely unknown except for former Beltone employee Wael Mahgary, who heads up WM.

Enterprise is a daily publication of Enterprise Ventures LLC, an Egyptian limited liability company (commercial register 83594), and a subsidiary of Inktank Communications. Summaries are intended for guidance only and are provided on an as-is basis; kindly refer to the source article in its original language prior to undertaking any action. Neither Enterprise Ventures nor its staff assume any responsibility or liability for the accuracy of the information contained in this publication, whether in the form of summaries or analysis. © 2022 Enterprise Ventures LLC.

Enterprise is available without charge thanks to the generous support of HSBC Egypt (tax ID: 204-901-715), the leading corporate and retail lender in Egypt; EFG Hermes (tax ID: 200-178-385), the leading financial services corporation in frontier emerging markets; SODIC (tax ID: 212-168-002), a leading Egyptian real estate developer; SomaBay (tax ID: 204-903-300), our Red Sea holiday partner; Infinity (tax ID: 474-939-359), the ultimate way to power cities, industries, and homes directly from nature right here in Egypt; CIRA (tax ID: 200-069-608), the leading providers of K-12 and higher level education in Egypt; Orascom Construction (tax ID: 229-988-806), the leading construction and engineering company building infrastructure in Egypt and abroad; Moharram & Partners (tax ID: 616-112-459), the leading public policy and government affairs partner; Palm Hills Developments (tax ID: 432-737-014), a leading developer of commercial and residential properties; Mashreq (tax ID: 204-898-862), the MENA region’s leading homegrown personal and digital bank; Industrial Development Group (IDG) (tax ID:266-965-253), the leading builder of industrial parks in Egypt; Hassan Allam Properties (tax ID:  553-096-567), one of Egypt’s most prominent and leading builders; and Saleh, Barsoum & Abdel Aziz (tax ID: 220-002-827), the leading audit, tax and accounting firm in Egypt.