In the past 15 weeks, Egyptian multimillionaire businessman Medhat Khalil has lost EGP809.7 million ($42.7 million) on the market value of his stake in Raya Holding for Financial Investments, as investors continue to reduce stakes in risky assets.
Raya Holding is an Egyptian investment conglomerate formed in 1999 by the merger of entities owned by Khalil and Orascom Group. The businessman presently owns 58.1 percent of the company, which translates to 1,245,661,205 shares.
As of press time on July 21, shares in the Egyptian investment conglomerate were worth EGP1.84 ($0.097) per share, 26.1-percent less than their closing price of EGP2.49 ($0.132) on April 7, as investors continue to reduce their risk exposure to preserve wealth and mitigate equity market volatility after the Central Bank of Egypt raised its policy rate to cool inflationary pressures.
According to Billionaires.Africa data, Khalil’s 58.1-percent stake has dropped in value by EGP809.7 million ($42.7 million) from EGP3.1 billion ($163.81 million) on April 7 to EGP2.29 billion ($121.05 million), owing to a 26.1-percent drop in the Raya Holding shares price.
The price drop coincides with the conglomerate’s strategic plans to expand its operations in the technology sector, while lowering operating costs, as outlined in its strategic expansion roadmap.
Raya Holding signed a strategic partnership agreement with Huawei Egypt nearly one month ago to collaborate on the establishment of clean-energy data centers as part of its efforts to achieve carbon neutrality and build a green future.
Aman Holding, one of its subsidiaries, recently announced plans to incorporate two companies under the name “Aman” for securitization and consumer financing to complete its non-banking financial services system.
The move aligns with the company’s plans to increase the number of small- and medium-sized businesses that use its digital services to finance their activities, as well as to capitalize on the region’s rapid adoption of the Internet and e-commerce services.
Aman Holding also plans to issue a fourth securitization bond worth about EGP500 million ($26.7 million) to fund medium- and long-term activities related to the launch of its new units.
