Abraaj exits bidding process for 100% acquisition of Egypt’s Bisco Misr

Private equity firm Abraaj Group has announced its decision to pull out of the competitive bidding process for the 100% acquisition of Egyptian snack producer Bisco Misr.

The company has been involved in a bidding war with breakfast cereal maker Kellogg’s.

Abraaj withdrew from the bidding after Kellogg’s offered EGP89.86 ($12.57) a share for Bisco Misr on 24 December 2014.

Abraaj had offered EGP88.09 ($12.30) for the company per share on the same day. Its latest offer also included a provision to allocate shares with a value of around EGP100m towards implementing a long-term employee incentivisation and retention programme to benefit all BiscoMisr employees, Abraaj said in a statement.

After the final offer, the biscuit and confectionary maker was valued at $144m by Kellogg’s.

The two companies embarked on a bidding war two months ago. The current offer that Abraaj had put forward was an increase of about 22% from its initial November offer of 73.91 a share.

Bisco Misr is considered to be an established brand in Egypt. It operates from three factories in Cairo and Alexandria where it produces biscuit Luxe and a variety of cakes and wafers.

It had earlier turned down offers from Juhayna Food Industries and Saudi Arabia’s Halwani Bros.

According to Reuters, Abraaj has been active in Egypt for almost a decade and manages close to $7.5bn of assets and targets high-growth sectors in its emerging markets.