The Saudi Egyptian Investment Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of the kingdom’s Public Investment Fund, acquired a 34 per cent stake in Egypt’s BTech as it looks to expand in the Arab world's most populous country.
SEIC purchased the minority stake in the 25-year-old consumer electronics retailer for an undisclosed sum from Development Partners International, an Africa-focused investment company based in the UK.
It is one of SEIC’s first investments after acquiring minority stakes in August in four companies listed on the Egyptian Stock Exchange for about $1.3 billion.
SEIC will appoint two members to the company's board, BTech founder and chief executive Mahmoud Khattab told The National.
The acquisition will help BTech accelerate its growth strategy and digitisation efforts, while scaling new business verticals and existing core operations, the retailer said in a statement on Monday.
"In recent years, we have achieved significant milestones, rapidly expanded our e-commerce business and grew our store footprint, distribution and service centres, while also enhancing our digital capabilities,” Mr Khattab said.
“With SEIC as an investor, we aim to continue to progress our ambitions.”
BTech has grown into “one of Egypt’s largest and fastest-growing e-commerce players and the country’s leading omnichannel retailing platform, making it a promising strategic partner for the Saudi Egyptian Investment Company”, SEIC said in a LinkedIn post.
Revenue in Egypt’s e-commerce market is projected to reach $7.74bn this year and increase at a compound annual growth rate of about 19 per cent between 2022 and 2025, according to market and consumer data platform Statista.
DPI’s fund African Development Partners II had acquired the stake in BTech in July 2016 for about $35 million at the time.
The remaining 66 per cent of BTech is owned by the Khattab family’s BT Holding.
Founded in 1997, BTech has 143 stores across Egypt, selling consumer electronics and home appliances. About 20 per cent of BTech’s revenue comes from online sales.
The company also provides consumer financing solutions through its MiniCash service and in August launched its business-to-business marketplace deel. The app offers small and medium businesses product listing, inventory management, delivery, marketing solutions, analytical tools and training courses.
BTech has expanded both online and offline, doubling the number of stores since the DPI investment in 2016. The home-grown chain grew its revenue fivefold and net income tenfold during that period, it said.
It has invested more than 400m Egyptian pounds ($20.3m) in digital transformation over the past three years and plans to invest an additional 1bn pounds in the coming three to four years, Mr Khattab said. BTech is working with management consulting company McKinsey as it embarks on this new journey.
Along with digital expansion, BTech plans to open 10 more stores by the end of this year.
“We believe that e-commerce will never replace the traditional retailer. Both are growing and both are helping each other in a very good way," Mr Khattab said.
The PIF is one of the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds, with around $620bn in assets under management. It is diversifying its investment portfolio as it seeks to grow its asset base to about $1 trillion by 2025.
SEIC said it would invest in several vital sectors in Egypt, including infrastructure, property development, health care, financial services, food and agriculture, manufacturing and pharmaceuticals.
The four publicly listed companies in Egypt that SEIC bought minority stakes in are Abu Qir Fertilisers and Chemical Industries, Alexandria Container and Cargo Handling, E-Finance for Financial and Digital Investments, and Misr Fertilisers Production Company.
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It Was Just an Accident
Director: Jafar Panahi
Stars: Vahid Mobasseri, Mariam Afshari, Ebrahim Azizi, Hadis Pakbaten, Majid Panahi, Mohamad Ali Elyasmehr
Rating: 4/5
Stormy seas
Weather warnings show that Storm Eunice is soon to make landfall. The videographer and I are scrambling to return to the other side of the Channel before it does. As we race to the port of Calais, I see miles of wire fencing topped with barbed wire all around it, a silent ‘Keep Out’ sign for those who, unlike us, aren’t lucky enough to have the right to move freely and safely across borders.
We set sail on a giant ferry whose length dwarfs the dinghies migrants use by nearly a 100 times. Despite the windy rain lashing at the portholes, we arrive safely in Dover; grateful but acutely aware of the miserable conditions the people we’ve left behind are in and of the privilege of choice.
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Moonfall
Director: Rolan Emmerich
Stars: Patrick Wilson, Halle Berry
Rating: 3/5
Syria squad
Goalkeepers: Ibrahim Alma, Mahmoud Al Youssef, Ahmad Madania.
Defenders: Ahmad Al Salih, Moayad Ajan, Jehad Al Baour, Omar Midani, Amro Jenyat, Hussein Jwayed, Nadim Sabagh, Abdul Malek Anezan.
Midfielders: Mahmoud Al Mawas, Mohammed Osman, Osama Omari, Tamer Haj Mohamad, Ahmad Ashkar, Youssef Kalfa, Zaher Midani, Khaled Al Mobayed, Fahd Youssef.
Forwards: Omar Khribin, Omar Al Somah, Mardik Mardikian.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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More on animal trafficking
Lampedusa: Gateway to Europe
Pietro Bartolo and Lidia Tilotta
Quercus
Milestones on the road to union
1970
October 26: Bahrain withdraws from a proposal to create a federation of nine with the seven Trucial States and Qatar.
December: Ahmed Al Suwaidi visits New York to discuss potential UN membership.
1971
March 1: Alex Douglas Hume, Conservative foreign secretary confirms that Britain will leave the Gulf and “strongly supports” the creation of a Union of Arab Emirates.
July 12: Historic meeting at which Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid make a binding agreement to create what will become the UAE.
July 18: It is announced that the UAE will be formed from six emirates, with a proposed constitution signed. RAK is not yet part of the agreement.
August 6: The fifth anniversary of Sheikh Zayed becoming Ruler of Abu Dhabi, with official celebrations deferred until later in the year.
August 15: Bahrain becomes independent.
September 3: Qatar becomes independent.
November 23-25: Meeting with Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid and senior British officials to fix December 2 as date of creation of the UAE.
November 29: At 5.30pm Iranian forces seize the Greater and Lesser Tunbs by force.
November 30: Despite a power sharing agreement, Tehran takes full control of Abu Musa.
November 31: UK officials visit all six participating Emirates to formally end the Trucial States treaties
December 2: 11am, Dubai. New Supreme Council formally elects Sheikh Zayed as President. Treaty of Friendship signed with the UK. 11.30am. Flag raising ceremony at Union House and Al Manhal Palace in Abu Dhabi witnessed by Sheikh Khalifa, then Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.
December 6: Arab League formally admits the UAE. The first British Ambassador presents his credentials to Sheikh Zayed.
December 9: UAE joins the United Nations.
Moral education needed in a 'rapidly changing world'
Moral education lessons for young people is needed in a rapidly changing world, the head of the programme said.
Alanood Al Kaabi, head of programmes at the Education Affairs Office of the Crown Price Court - Abu Dhabi, said: "The Crown Price Court is fully behind this initiative and have already seen the curriculum succeed in empowering young people and providing them with the necessary tools to succeed in building the future of the nation at all levels.
"Moral education touches on every aspect and subject that children engage in.
"It is not just limited to science or maths but it is involved in all subjects and it is helping children to adapt to integral moral practises.
"The moral education programme has been designed to develop children holistically in a world being rapidly transformed by technology and globalisation."
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Europe’s rearming plan
- Suspend strict budget rules to allow member countries to step up defence spending
- Create new "instrument" providing €150 billion of loans to member countries for defence investment
- Use the existing EU budget to direct more funds towards defence-related investment
- Engage the bloc's European Investment Bank to drop limits on lending to defence firms
- Create a savings and investments union to help companies access capital
White hydrogen: Naturally occurring hydrogen
Chromite: Hard, metallic mineral containing iron oxide and chromium oxide
Ultramafic rocks: Dark-coloured rocks rich in magnesium or iron with very low silica content
Ophiolite: A section of the earth’s crust, which is oceanic in nature that has since been uplifted and exposed on land
Olivine: A commonly occurring magnesium iron silicate mineral that derives its name for its olive-green yellow-green colour
Ziina users can donate to relief efforts in Beirut
Ziina users will be able to use the app to help relief efforts in Beirut, which has been left reeling after an August blast caused an estimated $15 billion in damage and left thousands homeless. Ziina has partnered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to raise money for the Lebanese capital, co-founder Faisal Toukan says. “As of October 1, the UNHCR has the first certified badge on Ziina and is automatically part of user's top friends' list during this campaign. Users can now donate any amount to the Beirut relief with two clicks. The money raised will go towards rebuilding houses for the families that were impacted by the explosion.”
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Brief scores:
Toss: Sindhis, elected to field first
Kerala Knights 103-7 (10 ov)
Parnell 59 not out; Tambe 5-15
Sindhis 104-1 (7.4 ov)
Watson 50 not out, Devcich 49
A list of the animal rescue organisations in the UAE
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