Solutions by STC now owns 88.2% of Giza Systems
Solutions by STC has completed the acquisition of 88.2% of Giza Systems, it announced in a statement (pdf) yesterday. The company didn’t disclose the final value of the transaction, but said Giza Systems has an enterprise value of USD 158 mn, almost 10% above the initial valuation back in April. In a separate statement (pdf), major shareholder B Investments said it sold its 44.7% stake at an equity valuation of USD 119 mn.
The selling shareholders: Solutions by STC was on course to take an 89.5% stake in Giza Systems from SPV Inergia Technologies, in which B Investments is the majority shareholder. Inergia holds a 65.7% stake in Giza Systems (including B Investments’ stake). It’s not known who the other sellers are.
What they said: “We made this strategic decision to acquire Giza Systems in order to accelerate our growth and consolidate our position as the leader in the telecommunications and information technology market at a regional level. Giza Systems will remain independent and we will work together in order to diversify our offering to our clients within Saudi Arabia and beyond," CEO of Solutions by STC Omar Al Nomani said.
More of this, please: “We are glad to have led one of the few management buyout transactions in Egypt,” added BPE Partners CEO Mostafa El-Anwar. B Investments is a unit of BPE Partners which El-Anwar said “supported management in growing and transforming the business through a series of value-added strategies.”
About Giza Systems: Giza Systems is present in 15 countries and has an annual turnover north of EGP 5 bn (USD 254 mn).
ADVISORS- SNB Capital was Solutions by STC’s financial advisor and Matouk Bassiouny & Hennawy and Freshfields acted as counsel. White & Case was international and local legal counsel on the sell side.
STC WANTS TO MAKE SAUDI A REGIONAL DATA HUB-
The Saudi telecom giant plans to spend about USD 1 bn to transform Saudi Arabia into a regional data hub and is considering a stake sale in its Center3 business to finance the plans, Bloomberg reports. KSA would invest the funds on building data centers and submarine data cables in order to host more media, gaming and corporate data, Center3 chairman Mohammed Alabbadi tells the business newswire. The firm has had talks with potential investors and is analyzing whether to pursue a direct equity share or an IPO, Alabbadi says.