Almarai contemplates $400m investment in Egypt

Saudi Arabia-based dairy food company Almarai is planning an investment of $400m in Egypt to increase its presence in the country.

Al-Borsa reported that the company was also considering the possibility of acquiring other food and agriculture companies, including Dina Farms, which is a unit of Qalaa Holdings.

In June last year, Saudi-based Beyti, in which Almarai has a 52% stake, had announced an investment of EGP4bn for setting up a new juice plant and two milk farms. Pepsico owns the remaining shares of the company.

During that period, Almarai Abdul Rahman’s former CEO Abdul Mohsen Al-Fadly said that the company had developed a five-year expansion plan, which included the extension of its existing factory, in addition to establishing a new plant for juices, a mid-size farm with 5,000 cows for milk, and another cow milk farm with a capacity of 20,000.

Almarai’s investment in Egypt would follow investments in the region by companies including Saffola and Jannat Agriculture Investment Company.

Daily News Egypt reported Saudi-Egyptian Businessmen Association (Seba) director-general Ahmed Darwish as saying that there was a possibility that both Saffola and Jannat would invest around $655.2m (EGP5bn) in expansion.

Almarai is said to have spent EGP1.25bn in Egypt since its acquisition of Beyti, which currently has 20% of the market share in terms of juices, dairy and yoghurts.

The company aims to increase its market share to 35% in its five-year plan.

Almarai was established in 1977 with the aim of transforming Saudi’s traditional dairy farming industry, and to meet increasing demand.

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Image: Almarai is considering investing in Egypt to increase its presence in the region. Photo: Naypong/freedigitalphotos.net.