Egyptian dairy group Juhayna Food Industries has made a takeover bid for local biscuit and cake manufacturer Bisco Misr.
Milk and yoghurt producer Juhayna confirmed yesterday (16 June) it had tabled an offer for its fellow listed Egyptian company.
“Responding to EGX inquiries concerning what was published [in] the newspapers, the company sent a clarifying release stating that it submitted a non-obligatory initial tender offer to acquire Bisco Misr shares and this issue [is] still under study and no decision was yet taken,” a statement on the Egyptian Stock Exchange read.
Egyptian business publication Al Mal today reported Mondelez International had also made an offer. Al Mal reported Mondelez was the third bidder for Bisco Misr. For its part, Bisco Misr told the publication it had rejected offers from unidentified suitors.
Officials at Juhayna, Bisco Misr and Mondelez could not be reached for comment at the time of writing.
Forbes last month published a list of what it saw as the top 500 companies in the Middle East. Bisco Misr, which featured in the list, published part of the data on its website. According to the list, Bisco Misr had a market value of US$61.7m. Revenues last year were $61m, with profits of $6m.
Last month, a UK trade union claimed Mondelez had recently sacked five union officials in Egypt and dismissed a worker who spoke out after getting injured in one of its plants in the country. The Unite union also claimed Mondelez had “locked out legitimate trade unions” at sites in Egypt and Tunisia.
Mondelez then told just-food it could not comment directly on the claims of dismissals in Egypt
