Sawiris sells stake
Private-equity firms Apax Partners Worldwide, Madison Dearborn Partners and TA Associates have agreed to buy a $1.7 billion stake in Weather Investments, a holding company owned by Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris.
Among other assets, Weather holds a controlling stake in Orascom Telecom Holding. Since founding Orascom in 1998, Sawiris has grown the company into one of the largest mobile phone operators in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia, with $4.9 billion in sales in its last fiscal year. A strong appetite for risk has underpinned Orascom's success by entering difficult developing markets such as Algeria, Pakistan and Iraq.