Qalaa Holding is an African leader in energy and infrastructure that builds businesses in strategic industries aiming to define the region’s future. The company invests in various industries including energy, cement, agrifoods, transportation & logistics, and mining while prioritizing innovation, value creation and sustainability.
The company core strategy is to provide reliable, fuel-efficient transportation solutions; to grow or manufacture safe, healthy food; to add value to natural resources; and to help build critical national infrastructure.
Its history
Qalaa Holdings was founded in 2004 as a private equity firm with EGP 2 million in capital. By 2012, the company became the leading private equity firm in the Middle East and Africa with 19 Opportunity-Specific Funds controlling platform companies with investments of $ 9.5 billion. Investments spanned 15 countries and 15 industries including energy distribution, solid waste management, agrifoods, cement, refining, transportation and glass manufacturing.
In 2013, 2013, Qalaa was rebranded from as Citadel Capital into Qalaa Holdings, and transformed its business model from a private equity to an investment holding, with a special focus on strategic industries like energy and infrastructure.
Its projects
Between 2004 and 2012, Qalaa Holdings completed a total of 54 acquisitions and new company formations, pursuing control investments across the deal-type spectrum, including turnarounds, buyouts, consolidations / industry roll-ups and greenfields.
The company’s approach was to raise equity via Opportunity-Specific Funds that would in turn control a subsidiary company in a specific industry; the company also successfully created two standard institutional funds — the MENA and Africa Joint Investment Funds — its first standard institutional funds.
Its strategy
Qalaa follows a sustainable responsible investing approach that is governed by “The Triple Bottom Line,” meaning it prioritizes positive social impact and human capital development alongside financial performance.
Qalaa Holdings believes good governance is not merely about obeying the letter of the law but also about institutionalizing principles of fairness, openness and transparency.
It believes that good governance is a fundamental enabler of corporate performance. The structures good governance creates reduce risk and help executives better identify internal and external threats — and capture opportunities. Good governance also aligns the interests of management, shareholders, the board of directors and subsidiaries. And it makes possible quick, well-informed decisions.
Furthermore, the company’s Internal Audit represents a key element in its and its subsidiaries’ corporate governance, with a mission to add value and improve Qalaa Holdings’ overall operations by providing relevant, timely, independent and objective assurance and advisory activities.
Its subsidiaries
- Egyptian Refining Company
- Nile Logistics
- Gozour
- Wafra
- ASCOM
- ASEC Holding
- Shorouk
- Baddar
- Uniboard
- TAQA Arabia
Board of Directors
Ahmed Heikal
Dr. Heikal is the founder of Qalaa Holdings (QH). In the past 10 years QH transformed from a general partnership private equity manager with EGP 2 million in capital to a leading investment holdings firm investing in Egypt and East Africa with EGP 9.1 billion in capital. The firm is a leading investor in a number of platform companies in the energy, cement, transportation & logistics, mining, consumer finance and retail sectors.
Prior to founding Qalaa Holdings, Dr. Heikal had joined EFG Hermes in 1992. At the time, EFG Hermes had a capital of EGP 250,000. Dr. Heikal was instrumental in transforming EFG Hermes from a small financial consultancy into the leading investment bank in the Arab world and emerging markets.
Heikal was an executive board member and Managing Director of EFG Hermes Holding.
Hisham El-Khazindar
Prior to co-founding Qalaa Holdings, El-Khazindar was Executive Director of Investment Banking at EFG Hermes where he advised on landmark M&A and IPO transactions in the region, and where he started his career in 1996. During 1999-2000, he was on secondment to Goldman Sachs in London.
El-Khazindar serves on the boards of several leading regional companies including El Sewedy Electric and Magrabi Retail, and on the Advisory Committee of the Emerging Markets Private Equity Association. He also serves as a Trustee of the American University in Cairo, as a Trustee of the Cairo Children’s Cancer Hospital, and as a Fellow of the Aspen Institute’s Middle East Leadership Initiative.
In 2013, El Khazindar was selected as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. He holds a BA in Economics from the American University in Cairo (1996) and an MBA from Harvard Business School (2003).
