Medinet Nasr, Sodic Said to Reach Initial Understanding on Deal

(Bloomberg) -- Egypt’s Medinet Nasr Housing and Six of October Development & Investment Co. have reached an initial understanding on a tie-up that would create one of the biggest private property developers in the country.

The two companies have yet to decide whether the deal will be an acquisition or a merger that may involve a share swap, three people with knowledge of the matter said, asking not to be identified as the information is private.

Although previous discussions between the two companies have stalled, an agreement is more likely this time because shareholders on both sides are on board, the people said. EFG-Hermes is advising Medinet Nasr on the deal while Sodic has yet to hire an adviser.

A Medinet Nasr representative declined to comment while Sodic officials weren’t immediately available to comment.

Read More: Egypt’s Medinet Nasr, Sodic Soar on Talks to Merge Developers

Analysts have said a deal would create a company with a competitive edge in the market, bringing together the strong selling power of the Sodic brand with its geographically diverse projects and the vast east Cairo land bank of Medinet Nasr. The two developers combined are targeting contracted sales of 15 billion Egyptian pounds ($848 million) this year.

Sodic shares retreated 0.8 percent to 28.81 Egyptian pounds per share as of 10:21 a.m. in Cairo while Medinet Nasr was unchanged.

To contact the reporters on this story: Tamim Elyan in Cairo at telyan@bloomberg.net, Mirette Magdy in Cairo at mmagdy1@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Stefania Bianchi at sbianchi10@bloomberg.net, Ross Larsen, Jon Menon

©2018 Bloomberg L.P.