PMI Acquires Minority Stake in Eastern Co.

Philip Morris International has acquired 14.7 percent of Eastern Co., reports Egypt Today.

PMI and Eastern reportedly seek to explore potential strategic areas for collaboration in technology, manufacturing and innovation.

“We look forward to exploring potential areas of cooperation with Eastern, including opportunities to provide adult smokers in Egypt with better options than cigarettes,” said Fred de Wilde, PMI president for South and Southeast Asia, the Commonwealth of Independent States and the Middle East and Africa, in a statement.

In November, Global Investment Holdings, an investment firm based in the United Arab Emirates, paid EGP16.4 billion ($531.6 million) for 669 million shares in Eastern Co.

Eastern Co.’s primary shareholders include the state-owned Holding Company for Chemical Industries (20.9 percent), the Allan Gray Equity Fund (7.2 percent) and the shareholders union of the Eastern Co. (6 percent), with the remaining 36 percent of shares trading freely on the stock exchange.

Egypt has been selling stakes in 35 state-owned companies through offering shares to strategic investors.

Eastern Co. is Egypt’s largest cigarette manufacturer, with a portfolio that also includes cigars and pipe tobacco, among other products.