Gozour, Citadel Capital’s multi-category consumer foods platform, has announced that its confectionary brand subsidiary, Rashidi El-Mizan, has just finalised a deal to acquire 75 per cent of Al-Musharraf, one of Sudan’s largest producers of halawa, biscuits and flour, for an enterprise value of USD19m.

The acquisition will give Gozour exposure to the rapidly growing Sudanese market.
 
Citadel Capital, a private equity firm in the Middle East and Africa with USD8.3bn in investments under control, acquired REM in late 2007.

Today, REM is a key portfolio company of Gozour: its distribution network reaches 91 per cent of Egypt’s 79-million-strong consumer market and continues to grow an export presence that already reaches 34 countries.
 
"From day one, Gozour has been a regional proposition that is being developed with a local base. Today, our local base has reached critical mass, so naturally the next step was to start developing the regional leg of the business," says Citadel Capital co-founder and managing director Hisham El-Khazindar.
 
Sudan is a strategic market for Gozour. On the demand side, the country has consumption patterns similar to Egypt's, and a 40-million-strong consumer base. Food products in Sudan sell at a 30 per cent premium to the Egyptian market, and the country holds significant potential as both an agricultural producer and as a new export market for Gozour products.
 
Mohamed El-Rashidi, chief executive officer of Gozour Foods, says: "Al-Musharraf, one of Sudan’s oldest and most recognised brand names for halawa and biscuits, was a natural fit for Gozour. The company has a complementary product mix that can be easily integrated with REM and may also serve as a gateway to the Sudanese market for Gozour’s portfolio. Gozour plans to use Al-Musharraf’s brand equity and distribution networks to fast-track exports from the rest of Gozour’s categories."
 
Work is already underway to fully integrate Al-Musharraf into the dry foods leg of Gozour, which includes REM halawa and tahina products, the newly launched lines of REM jams and tomato pastes and a variety of specialty foods products from Mom’s Foods.
 
Gozour is exploring additional regional expansion in select regional markets, including Algeria, Ethiopia, Uganda, and Kenya.