Egypt’s Ministry of Finance will appoint a committee to review the financials of the Misr Hotels-Hilton (MHOT) Company in order to determine the Group’s debts owed to the government, reported Al-Alam Al-Youm . This is considered an important step toward the privatization of the company.
The sale of the company to an anchor investor has been set for November. 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 will be traded on the Cairo/Alexandria Stock Exchange (CASE).
Last year, 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.
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)
© 2002 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
