Cairo-based Citadel Capital has recorded solid improvement in its 2012 results with the company's Ebitda from its eight core operational platforms rising to EGP111.4 million ($15.9 million) from minus EGP0.1 million the previous year on the back of fundamental improvements in underlying businesses as well as a sustained emphasis on cost control.

 

Citadel’s principal investments from its own balance sheet increased to $214.7 million in FY12 over the $ 48.2 million in the fourth quarter to close the year at $1.15 billion.

 

Operational highlights of 2012 include the start of the firm’s transformation from a hybrid private equity business model into a leading investment company, a tight focus on risk reduction, and the curbing of OPEX spending at the firm and platform company levels.

 

Commenting on the results, Ahmed Heikal, the chairman and founder of Citadel Capital said, “The year just ended was very positive for Citadel Capital: We made progress on three key fronts while simultaneously witnessing a change in macro conditions that has fundamentally validated our investment thesis, which sees us biased toward export sectors, dollar-denominated revenue businesses, industries that stand to benefit from energy deregulation, as well as regional opportunities outside Egypt.”

 

“On the risk front, we began 2012 with a greenfield pipeline that included one exceptionally large transaction that had not reached financial close — Egyptian Refining Company — and three very large transactions, Djelfa, Mashreq and ASEC Minya,” noted Heikal.

 

“Today, we have reached financial close on the $3.7 billion ERC project, begun commissioning at ASEC Minya, our $360 million cement plant in Egypt and made strong progress on the two remaining projects—Djelfa our a 3.5 MTPA greenfield cement in Algeria and Mashreq, a unique fuel bunkering terminal and logistics hub on the Suez Canal—which will be our focus in 2013,” he added.

 

Citadel Capital reached financial close on ERC in June 2012 with what stands as the largest equity raising in Egypt since 2007 and the largest in Africa last year. 

 

As part of its drive to transform into an investment company, Citadel Capital is pursuing majority control of 10 focus platforms in five core industries: energy, agrifoods, transportation, mining, and cement with a view to maximizing shareholder value through long-term holding periods to take full advantage of prevailing macro trends.-TradeArabia News Service