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Tuesday, 3 January 2023

GB Auto agrees to sell 45% of its leasing business to Chimera Investments

GB Auto approves GB Lease stake sale: GB Auto’s board has approved plans to sell a 45% stake in GB Lease to our friends at Abu Dhabi-based investment firm Chimera Investments for EGP 855 mn, after approving the results of a fair value study (pdf), the company said in an EGX disclosure (pdf) yesterday.

REMEMBER- GB Auto unit GB Capital last month greenlit the transaction, which will see it retain the remaining 55% stake in the company. We were expecting the acquisition to wrap up before the end of the year.

Chimera’s offer is generous, as you’d expect it to be in seeking a stake of that size in a large, high-margin business, with Baker Tilly’s fair value study suggesting Chimera’s offer is at a double-digit premium.

Not their first rodeo: GB and Chimera are already partners after GB Auto sold a 7.5% stake in MNT Investments to Chimera in November as part of a larger agreement that will see Chimera acquire a 21.7% stake in the Netherlands-based payments company.

BACKGROUND- Chimera has been in talks with GB Auto to acquire the shares since September. GB Capital has been considering a partial sell-down in its leasing business for over a year, during which time the company had received offers from several firms.

Advisors: Arqaam Capital is acting as the sell-side advisor to GB Capital, while Matouk Bassiouny & Hennawy are legal counsel. Adsero-Ragy Soliman and Partners are buy-side counsel.

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