| 07 Mar 2010 |
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Citadel Capital Hires Industry Expert as Chief Executive Officer of its Financial Services Platform
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Amr Seif has been appointed to lead Citadel CapitalCitadel Capital
's fast-growing financial services Platform Company, Finance Unlimited. The company currently controls investments in the Middle East and Africa's investment banking, microfinance and commercial banking sectorsCitadel CapitalCitadel Capital
(CCAP.CA on the Egyptian Stock Exchange), the leading private equity firm in the Middle East and Africa with US$ 8.3 billion in investments under control, announced today the appointment of City of London investor Amr Seif as Chief Executive Officer of Finance Unlimited, its platform investment in the regional financial services industry. Seif joins Finance Unlimited from London based Investec Asset Management, where he started and led the company's MENA equity practice and was portfolio manager for Investec's MENA and Africa-Middle East funds. He returns to Egypt after more than 10 years of investment experience in global emerging markets.
"I'm delighted that we have attracted an international talent of Amr's stature to lead growth at Finance Unlimited. As an experienced investor in global emerging markets Amr can use his expertise to grow our existing investments beyond MENA into other frontier markets," said Citadel CapitalCitadel Capital Managing Director Ahmed El Houssieny.
Commenting on the progress that Finance Unlimited has achieved thus far, El Houssieny said, "We ended 2009 on a high note after launching an innovative microfinance investment, expanding activities at the Sudanese-Egyptian BankSudanese-Egyptian Bank and winning sizeable deals and mandates at Pharos Holding, a financial services firm that is now a market leader on both the brokerage and asset management fronts. We have an ambitious vision for Finance Unlimited and we are confident that Amr will be able to deliver fantastic value to our shareholders and investors."
Seif began his professional career as a corporate credit officer at Citibank in Egypt. In 1997 he joined Commercial International Investment Company (CIIC), as an investment banker specializing in financial services. Amr's stint in the City of London commenced in 1999, where he built a long track-record with JPMorgan managing a number of Middle Eastern and Eastern European equity mutual funds and institutional portfolios. At the time of his departure from JPMorgan he had in excess of US$ 2 billion under management. Seif earned a Bachelor's degree in Economics from Cairo University and holds an MBA from the Katz Graduate School of Business at the University of Pittsburgh. He assumes his new responsibilities on the first of April 2010.
Finance Unlimited Portfolio Companies include: Pharos Holding (investment banking), Tanmeyah (microfinance) and the Sudanese-Egyptian BankSudanese-Egyptian Bank (commercial banking and trade finance.
Finance Unlimited has led the Sudanese-Egyptian Bank (SEB)Sudanese-Egyptian Bank (SEB)
through a series of expansions. In 2006, 70% of the bank was acquired and by the end of 2009, paid-in capital rose from US$ 15 million to US$ 28.9 million, total assets grew from US$ 28 million to US$ 165 million and the number of branches increased from one to six. The bank's focus is on overall trade promotion as well as the financing of both large national projects in Sudan and local small and medium enterprises.Tanmeyah, launched in July 2009, is a greenfield Portfolio Company that launched with 15 branches. After issuing loans worth nearly US$ 1.5 million in its first 30 days of operations, Tanmeyah went on to open 48 branches and grow its portfolio of outstanding loans to US$ 9.1 million across 32,000 clients by year's end. It is the company's long-term plan to expand its success to other high-growth yet significantly underpenetrated regional markets.
Pharos Holding's brokerage arm was the fifth-ranked broker on the Egyptian Exchange in 2009, while its asset management division launched Pharos Fund I, the firm's first equity fund, in July of last year.
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(CCAP.CA on the Egyptian Stock Exchange) is the leading private equity firm focusing on building regional platform investments throughout the Middle East and Africa in select industries through acquisitions, turnarounds, and greenfields executed via Opportunity Specific Funds. Citadel CapitalCitadel Capital's 18 OSFs now control Platform Companies with investments worth more than US$ 8.3 billion in 14 countries spanning 15 industries, including mining, cement, transportation, food and energy. Since 2004, the firm has generated more than US$ 2.4 billion in cash returns to co-investors and shareholders, more than any other private equity firm in the region. Citadel CapitalCitadel Capital is the largest private equity firm in Africa by PE assets under management (2004-2009, as ranked by Private Equity International). For more information, please visit www.citadelcapital.com.For more information, please contact:
Ms. Ghada Hammouda
Head of Corporate Communications,
Citadel CapitalCitadel Capital (S.A.E.)
ghammouda@citadelcapital.com
Tel: +20 2 2791-4440
Fax: +20 22 791-4448
Mobile: +20 16 662-0002
Maryam Keblawi,
SAHARA Communications
Tel: 971 4 3298996
Fax: 971 4 3298995
Mobile: +971 50 4779923
Email: maryam@saharagcc.com
www.saharagcc.com
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