A recent report issued by the Ernst & Young Foundation about incoming mergers and acquisitions in the Middle East and North Africa showed that Egyptian companies enjoyed 83 percent of such deals in the first half of 2013.
The telecommunications industry accounted for most of the deals, mainly due to the acquisition of Orascom Telecom Holding by Baskendal for US$6.4 billion.
The deals announced in the first half of 2013 amounted to US$10.6 billion, compared to US$5.1 billion in the first half of 2012, an increase of 108 percent.
The report also revealed that outgoing deals fell by 37 percent from US$10.5 billion in the first half of 2012 to US$6.6 billion in the first half of 2013. Also, domestic deals fell by 13 percent.
The United Arab Emirates accounted for 25 percent of both domestic and incoming transactions in the first half of 2013, followed by Saudi Arabia with 19 percent.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
