Bisco Misr shareholders agree to sell stake to Kellogg

Shareholders in Egypt’s Bisco Misr have agreed to sell a controlling stake to Kellogg as the world’s largest breakfast cereal maker emerged as the likely winner of an $87 million takeover battle for the cake and biscuit producer.

Private equity firm Abraaj said last week it would withdraw from a bidding war with Kellogg that had driven up the offer price by over 20 percent, leaving the U.S. group as the only remaining suitor.

Shareholders controlling 59.91 per cent of the firm’s shares agreed to sell at 89.86 pounds a share, Bisco Misr said in a statement on Tuesday, for a total of just under $87 million.

The tussle over Bisco Misr is part of a flurry of mergers and rights issues boosting activity on the Cairo bourse, which has struggled to revive investor confidence in the turmoil that has followed the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings.