Nestle, Swiss food giant, is going to invest about 1 billion Egyptian pounds ($137.93 million) in Egypt in the next few years. Its North East Africa Region CEO said the kind of investments they have made over the last three to four years are the kind of vision that they would have for this market also going forward.
Shares in Nestle that no analyst recommends selling according to 42 ratings tracked by Bloomberg are up 5.3 percent this year. Nestle will receive $28.1 billion from Novartis AG for its majority stake in Alcon, the maker of Opti-Free contact lens cleaners, giving it a cash pile exceeding the $26.5 billion that Google Inc had on its books at the end of March.
Food is seen as a fast-growing sector in the most populous Arab nation of 86 million people. Egypt's government this year launched a raft of reforms aimed at luring back foreign investors and shoring up growth while cutting a ballooning deficit. The competing offers from Kellogg and Abraaj are the latest sign foreign investors are returning to the market.
