Sawiris Locks Down OCI Control Ahead of €866m Buyout
Nassef Sawiris has secured majority control of OCI Global through open-market purchases, rendering the upcoming €866.6 million take-private offer a formality and clearing the path for a blocked merger with Orascom Construction.
NNS Holding, the Cyprus-incorporated vehicle of the Sawiris family office, now controls 55.13 percent of OCI Global. Buying 403,642 shares on July 10 at an average of €4.079 pushed the family's total stake past the majority threshold. Whatever minority shareholders decide in the forthcoming vote, control of the Euronext Amsterdam-listed group has already changed hands.
NNS intends to launch a voluntary all-cash offer of €4.10 per share for the remaining stock, valuing the company at roughly €866.6 million. OCI’s board recommended the bid on July 1, converting an unsolicited late-June approach into an agreed transaction in barely two weeks. For minority holders, the practical choice is now limited: accept the cash with board backing, or remain in an illiquid stock controlled outright by the founder's family.
The take-private is designed to resolve a corporate deadlock. NNS stated the bid aims to unblock OCI’s proposed merger with Orascom Construction, the Sawiris family’s engineering group. Moving the combination off the public exchange removes the constraints of Dutch listing rules and eliminates the risk of minority-shareholder litigation that stalled the original plan.
OCI’s diminished scale is precisely what makes this buyout feasible for the family. Once a major nitrogen-fertilizer and methanol producer with plants across the Americas, Europe and North Africa, the company has completed a sweeping disposal programme. It sold an Iowa fertilizer plant to Koch Industries, a stake in Fertiglobe to ADNOC, and its methanol business to Methanex.
Those sales returned billions to shareholders, transforming OCI into a cash shell whose market value is a fraction of its former peak. Under Dutch takeover rules, Sawiris can force out remaining shareholders if his stake reaches 95 percent, making delisting from Euronext Amsterdam the natural conclusion. The transaction also underscores a broader shift in African capital, with an Egyptian family office writing the cheque to take a European-listed multinational private.
