CAIRO: ADQ Holding, one of Abu Dhabi’s sovereign funds, acquired stakes in five Egyptian companies with a total value of $1.8 billion through the block transaction mechanism, the Egyptian Stock Exchange revealed. The deal involved acquiring 21.5 percent of Abu Qir Fertilizers, 20 percent of MOPCO, 32 percent of Alexandria Container Handling, 17 percent of Commercial International Bank, and 12.6 percent of Fawry, according to the Stock Exchange disclosures. Egyptian capital market sources revealed that state-owned banks were the sellers in the deals, namely Banque Misr and the National Bank of Egypt. Al-Ahly Pharos played the role of the seller’s broker in the five deals, while the International Commercial Bank for Securities played the role of the executing broker for the Abu Dhabi sovereign fund ADQ, which acquired the stakes through one of its subsidiaries “Alpha Orex Limited.” The Abu Dhabi sovereign fund had earlier held talks with Egypt to invest about $2 billion by buying state-owned stakes in some listed and unlisted companies on the stock exchange, led by the Commercial International Bank. The Egyptian Stock Exchange announced the implementation of the block trade on Fawry Banking Technology and Electronic Payments shares for 215.12 million shares, with a paid amount of $68.59 million. Alexandria Container Handling reached 476.72 million shares with a paid amount of $159.06 million. The exchange stated that deals were executed on the shares of Commercial International Bank — Egypt for 340 million shares, with a paid amount of $911.45 million. The shares of MOPCO reached 45.82 million shares with a paid amount of $266.55 million. Abu Qir Fertilizers and Chemical Industries shares reached 272 million shares, at a value of $391.94 million. Sources said that the deal would not be the last in the Egyptian market, as it looks to implement a number of deals in favor of Arab sovereign funds over the short to mid term to aid the Egyptian economy and provide the necessary liquidity to face the current crisis.