www.citadelcapital.com Citadel Capital Local Insight • Regional Footprint • World-Class Expertise

Citadel Capital, the Arab world’s leading private equity firm, has executed some of the largest and most complex buyouts and corporate turnarounds in the Middle East and North Africa since its establishment in 2004. The firm currently has more than US$ 7 billion under management, a figure that makes it one of the largest private equity firms in the area. Formed as a two-person partnership, Citadel is now a thriving regional practice with a wide industrial and geographical footprint.

Based in Cairo, Citadel Capital’s primary focus is on buyout, turnaround and financial-engineering opportunities in the Middle East and North Africa. The firm carefully selects opportunities that allow it to create value through its expertise in corporate re-engineering. Citadel Capital acquires controlling stakes in players across a variety of high-growth industries. Citadel is committed to creating value through unique approaches to corporate re-engineering, including new business development and the expansion of opportunities, financial restructuring, and the enhancement of management efficiency.

With each acquisition, Citadel looks to create value and opportunities by turning local companies into large regional players. This strategy has paid off handsomely for investors in the Egyptian Fertilizer Company (its Egyptian capacity doubled in two years while it also acquired a controlling stake in a Nigerian plant and was shortlisted to build another in Algeria) and ASEC Cement (which has increased its capacity in Egypt while building plants in Syria and Algeria), for example.

The firm’s aim: To create maximum shareholder value over the medium term before exiting in a timely manner to realize gains for its investors. Investment horizons typically range from 18 months to 5 years, while the firm’s footprint spans the Middle East and North Africa.

Citadel Capital’s preference is for transactions with an equity component of US$ 100 million or more. Citadel typically commits a minimum of 10% of the equity being invested, with the balance placed with an investor base that includes leading high-net-worth individuals and institutions in Egypt and the Gulf.

Citadel’s acquisition targets fall into four broad categories:

• Healthy Companies with little debt that lend themselves to leveraged buyouts and have strong growth potential at the local or regional levels. Often, these companies can serve as platforms for further industry consolidation. (example: Egyptian Fertilizer Company).
• Distressed Companies often have attractive underlying assets that permit the application of financial and management re-engineering to unlock value in turnaround scenarios. (example: ASEC)
• The firm may acquire smaller companies to consolidate them into a single powerful player able to serve as a platform within its industry both nationally and regionally. (example: TAQA Group)
• The firm will consider green-field projects on an opportunistic basis. (example: Egyptian Refinery Company “ERC”)

Citadel’s current portfolio includes: TAQA, a downstream energy distribution operation; NPC, an upstream exploration and production company; ASEC, a cement production and services group; NRTC, offering complete logistics solutions for river transport; ERC, an oil refinery in Egypt; Dina Farms, an agricultural development project; ASCOM, a mining and quarrying company, MENA Glass, a glass manufacturing group; as well as many other investments in various sectors. (For more details look up www.citadelcapital.com)

Citadel’s unique vision and regional expertise as well as its iron-clad reputation for integrity have attracted a diverse pool of high-net-worth and institutional investors who appreciate that the firm co-invests alongside its investors in every transaction to share in both risks and returns. The company’s track record, with IRRs as astounding as in the 90%, has made investors willing to participate again and again in every deal.

The firm’s primary focus will always be on creating value for its investors, but Citadel takes a special approach to the companies in which it invests, to their employees and to the economies in which it does business. Employee incentive programs — including employee stock ownership and stock options — are the norm at Citadel-owned companies. Where others might be tempted to strip assets, Citadel invests across the region with both green-field projects and substantial capital injections.

Community service is high on Citadel Capital’s list of priorities. With many CSR programs running, the company has invested in excess of LE 150 million. The most notable of these initiatives, is the Citadel Capital Scholarship Foundation, an organization that grants academic scholarships for talented young men and women to pursue post-graduate degrees in all fields of study. The Foundation’s aim is to contribute to sustainable development through creating high calibre professionals to help enhance growth in all sectors.

Citadel Capital intends to continue playing a leading role in the region’s economic success story for years to come and to create growth on an unprecedented scale across the Middle East and Africa.

Citadel Capital
1089 Corniche El-Nil, Four Seasons
Garden City, Cairo 11518, Egypt

Tel: +202 27914440
Fax: +202 2791 4448
Web: www.citadelcapital.com

 

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