Egypt's richest billionaire pivots business strategy to the US

Egypt's richest billionaire Nassef Sawiris.

Egypt’s richest man, Nassef Sawiris, is making one of the biggest strategic moves of his career: investing up to $50 billion in infrastructure in the United States. The move not only marks a major shift in his business direction but also a sweeping restructuring of his entire empire.

To realize this ambition, Mr. Sawiris, who is also known as the owner of the English football club Aston Villa, is merging two of his main business pillars. Specifically, the chemical and fertilizer group OCI Global, after selling assets worth more than 11.6 billion USD in the past two years, will be merged into Orascom Construction, his family's long-standing construction company and legacy.

The new combined company will be listed in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where Mr Sawiris has made his new home along with Italy, after leaving the UK in a high-profile move due to changes in tax policy there.

With Orascom’s deep expertise in construction and OCI’s cash position of over $1 billion, the new company will focus entirely on opportunities in the U.S. The plan is to invest its own capital, along with capital from partners, in key infrastructure projects such as data centers, airports, and more through both equity and credit investments over the next decade.

Mr Sawiris told the Financial Times that he wanted to focus on the sector where he saw the biggest opportunity, which was infrastructure. He believed that companies with a strong background in construction and project management, such as Orascom, Vinci (France) or Ferrovial (Spain), would have a distinct advantage.

In fact, Orascom is not a strange name in the US. Through its subsidiary Weitz (acquired in 2012), they have experience building many important projects such as data centers, airport terminals and university dormitories.

This is the next major pivot in the career of Nassef Sawiris, the youngest son of businessman Onsi Sawiris. His father built Orascom from a small construction company in the 1950s into a powerful multinational conglomerate. Nassef Sawiris himself has been very successful in shifting from cement (sold to France’s Lafarge in 2007 for more than 10 billion euros) to chemicals, and now to infrastructure.

Underpinning this transformation is solid financial strength and impressive business performance. According to a KPMG audit, OCI and Orascom generated an internal rate of return of more than 39% from 1999 to the end of 2024, while paying out more than $22 billion in dividends to shareholders.

As OCI prepares for its next chapter in the US, its restructuring continues. Last year, the company sold its global methanol business and is currently reviewing options for its remaining European assets, paving the way for a new era focused on the promising US infrastructure market.

Source: https://vtv.vn/ty-phu-giau-nhat-ai-cap-xoay-truc-chien-luoc-kinh-doanh-sang-my-100250922201145861.htm