Back to the complete issue
Wednesday, 17 August 2022

MNHD shareholders reject SODIC’s advance

MNHD shareholders back board, say offer price was too low: Madinet Nasr Housing and Development (MNHD) shareholders meeting in a general assembly yesterday rejected a takeover bid from SODIC, saying the offer price was too low, an exec at MNHD told Enterprise. Just three investors voted in favor of allowing the upmarket developer to start due diligence, leaving almost all the company’s shareholders siding with the board, which last month rejected the offer that valued the company at up to EGP 6.36 bn.

The two companies hit a deadlock weeks ago: SODIC has said it will not revise its offer upwards without getting the green light to conduct due diligence. The upmarket developer had offered to pay EGP 3.20-3.40 per share to purchase up to 100% of the state-owned developer in a potential all-cash transaction. MNHD’s shares on the EGX closed at EGP 2.40 yesterday.

The offer price is far lower than what MNHD thinks is fair value: MNHD CEO Abdullah Sallam said last month that MNHD believes its portfolio of undeveloped land is worth 3-4x more than what SODIC has offered for the company as a whole.

MNHD’s current owners: State-owned institutions collectively own the largest stake in MNHD, with the Holding Company for Construction and Development holding 15.2%, the National Investment Bank owning 3.7% and Banque Misr holding 3.5%. BIG Investment Group is the largest single shareholder with a 19.9% stake, B Investments owns 7.5% and 20.4% is held by foreign institutions.

MNHD and SODIC have been dancing (on and off) for years: With different shareholding structures on both sides and a different management team at MNHD at the time, the two started talking about combining their businesses in early 2018, which months later saw SODIC make an offer to acquire at least 51% of MNHD through a direct share swap that the two positioned as what would have been Egypt’s largest-ever M&A at the time. Talks fell through after they failed to reach an agreement on the share-swap ratio.

Advisors: CI Capital is acting as SODIC’s financial advisor, while MNHD has not appointed an investment bank. Zaki Hashem & Partners is MNHD’s legal counsel.

ALSO FROM SODIC-

Goco Hospitality coming to The Estates: Bangkok-based spa and wellness consultancy Goco Hospitality will provide its services at SODIC’s The Estates development in Sheikh Zayed, according to a press release (pdf) out yesterday.

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.