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Egyptian billionaire businessman Mohamed Mansour is set to join the newly created Investment Advisory Board in the United Kingdom following a recent announcement by the country’s Investment Minister Jerry Grimston on April 27.
The minister announced the creation of the investment board, which will serve as the UK’s foreign investment advisory body to the Egyptian government, SmallCapNews reported. It aims to improve the business environment in the UK for foreign investors.
The Investment Advisory Board, which Grimston will lead, will bring investor insight to the government’s internal investment strategy when it meets biannually on an ad hoc basis.
Mansour will sit alongside senior private sector leaders from around the world who operate in various industries, such as technology, energy, infrastructure and financial services. The board will provide high-level strategic advice to the Department of International Trade and the government at large.
Mansour is Egypt’s third-richest man with a $2.5-billion net worth, according to Forbes Real Time ranking as of April 28. He is chairman of Mansour Group, a $6-billion family conglomerate that employs over 60,000 and is the second-largest company in Egypt revenue-wise.
The Mansour Group is a leading distributor of major American brands in Africa, such as GM, Chevrolet, Marlboro and Caterpillar. After establishing GM dealerships in Egypt in 1975, it became one of GM’s largest distributors worldwide. It also has the exclusive distribution rights for Caterpillar equipment in Egypt and seven other African countries.
In 2005, when the Egyptian government appointed Mansour to serve as the transport minister, he resigned from the 58 directorships and chairmanships he held as a private citizen. The Mansour Group also agreed to end all of its business with the Transport Ministry. However, in 2009, he resigned from office following criticism triggered by several fatal accidents in the transport sector during his tenure, Ahramonline reported.
