The Misr Hotels-Hilton (MHOT) company would be sold within a month’s time to an Arab strategic investor, Chairman Mustafa Eid stated at the annual general assembly of the Holding Company for Housing, Tourism and Cinema, reported Al-Alam Al-Youm. Negotiations for the sale to an anchor investor have been renewed in November, following a meeting between a Saudi investor and Egyptian Prime Minister Atef Ubeid.
In mid-August, Al-Alam Al-Youm reported that Hilton International offered to purchase a "considerable portion" of Misr Hotels. Seeking more leverage over the company's strategic planning processes, the multinational hotel chain aimed not for a controlling stake, but one that is not to be less than 20 percent of MHOT's shares.
As part of the 2001 national privatization scheme, the state-owned Holding Company announced its willingness to sell 70.54 percent of MHOT's shares, to an investor or group of investors, under the purchase offers system. The remaining shares are traded on the Cairo/Alexandria Stock Exchange (CASE).
MHOT announced an un-audited net profit of 8.46 million Egyptian pounds ($1.84 million) for the three-month period, which ended 30 September 2001. This is compared with a net profit of EP 9.16 million for the same period last year, the CASE disclosed.
The company was established in 1995 with an objective of establishing the Nile Hilton hotel in Cairo. In the year 1964 four tourism companies and hotels were merged with the company and then converted into one public sector company named Misr Hotels.
MHOT’s properties include the five-star Nile Hilton Hotel in Cairo, with a capacity of 466 rooms; the five-star Dahab Hilton Hotel in Dahab, with 191 rooms; the three-star Aton Motels in Minia, with a capacity of 42 rooms; as well as substantial shares in six joint-stock companies—Borg Al-Arab Hilton, the Fairouz Hilton in Sharm Al-Sheikh and the Nuweiba Hilton. The company also owns 13,000 square meters of undeveloped land in Luxor and 363,000 square meters of undeveloped land in Al-Arish, Sinai. — (menareport.com)
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
