Lender successfully concludes advisory

Inayat-ur-Rahman, Business Editor

EFG Hermes, the leading investment bank franchise in Frontier Emerging Markets (FEM), announced on Thursday that its investment banking division successfully concluded advising Auf Group’s founders and Tanmiya Capital Ventures (TCV) on the entry into a strategic transaction concerning Auf Group, a leading specialised Egyptian healthy snacks and coffee manufacturer and retailer, with UAE-based Agthia, one of the leading food and beverage companies in the region.

The transaction marks the beginning of a new chapter in Auf Group’s growth journey to further accelerate its core business growth, expand the reach, and help the Company to realize its potential and growing footprint in Egypt, UAE and beyond.

Maged El Ayouti, Managing Director and Deputy Head of EFG Hermes’ Investment Banking division commented: “We are honoured to have advised the shareholders of Auf Group on this milestone transaction which is considered a steppingstone towards accelerating Auf Group’s expansionary goals across regional markets beyond its current Egypt base and recent UAE market entry. Auf Group has built a distinguished brand, innovative product offering, and an impressive direct-to-consumer retailing channel. The transaction is testament to the strong appetite from prominent international institutional investors in agile, efficiently run and innovative companies in Egypt which are able to demonstrate strong growth and who can scale both locally and regionally.”

Established in 2010, Auf Group processes, manufactures, retails and distributes a broad portfolio of products including healthy snacks, coffee, nuts, and other confectionary products sold under the “Abu Auf” masterbrand. It has a large direct-to-consumer channel in Egypt operating over 200 outlets (95 branded stores and 113 shop-in-shop outlets) couple with a country-wide distribution reaching 20,000 points of sale in 26 governorates in Egypt, and has recently expanded as part of its strategic geographic expansion into the UAE with 3 outlets operational currently.