Egyptian multimillionaire founder Medhat Kalil has lost EGP1.8 billion ($114.3 million) as shares in the Egypt-based investment conglomerate Raya Holding declined by double digits in 120 days on the local bourse.
The multimillion-dollar loss in Khalil’s stake was due to a sustained sell-off on the Egyptian Stock Exchange in reaction to the loss of EGP61.7 million ($3.9 million) that the group posted at the end of its 2020 financial year.
This bearish sentiment caused Raya Holding’s stock price to fall by nearly 40 percent, as investors took a flight to safety.
Raya Holding for Financial Investments is an Egypt-based investment conglomerate that was created out of the 1999 merger of Khalil’s Protech and Oratech, a company Khalil founded alongside Orascom Group, immediately ending his career at IBM.
Khalil holds a 58.1-percent stake in Raya Holding, making him the majority shareholder.
From 1999 to 2020, the group has grown under his leadership from a company with 285 employees and EGP88 million ($5.6 million) in revenue to an investment conglomerate with 12,000 employees and more than EGP10 billion ($637 million) in revenue.
As of press time, 6:40 AM (UTC), Sept. 22, shares in the Egypt-based investment conglomerate were valued at EGP2.17 ($0.138) per share, 39.9-percent lower than the closing price of EGP3.61 ($0.230) per share on May 24.
Meanwhile, the market value of Khalil’s 1.2 billion shares in the gr0up has fallen from EGP4.5 billion ($286.5 million) on May 24 to EGP2.7 billion ($172.2 million) on Sept. 22.
This translates to a loss of $114.3 million in 120 days.After posting a loss of EGP61.7 million ($3.9 million) at the end of its 2020 financial year, Raya Holding returned to profitability in the first half of 2021, posting a net profit of EGP151.9 million ($9.7 million), compared with the loss of EGP95.5 million ($6.1 million) that it posted in the first half of 2020.