Citadel invests $183m in Egypt river ports

The firm is also considering opportunities in Sudanese river ports, and reportedly plans to link its port network from Alexandria in northern Egypt to Juba in the south of Sudan within the next four to five years.

According to Reuters, the Egyptian transport minister has expressed intentions to boost cargo transported via the Nile from 2.5 million tonnes today to 40 million tonnes within the next five years, as part of a drive to increase the proportion of cargo in Egypt transported by railroads and the Nile to 20 per cent within that period.

As part of the scheme, the government is to tender several river ports to encourage investment by the private sector.

One of the largest private equity firms in Africa, Citadel reportedly launched a new $150m co-investment fund targeting the continent last week. The fund, which will be the firm’s first co-investment vehicle, is to focus on East Africa, where the firm has pledged to invest $200m to $400m over the next two years.

The main investors in the fund were development finance institutes, including French organisation PROPARCO, Dutch development bank FMO, the African Development Bank (AfDB) and an undisclosed fourth investor. The fund will focus on the water management, agribusiness, and transport sectors.

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