The new Governor of Minya, Dr. Moustafa Kamel Eissa visited ASEC Cement’s US$ 360 million, 2.0 MPTA greenfield cement plant for a tour of the site and a briefing on how the plant will help create as many as 1,200 jobs while supplying cement for the governorate’s critical infrastructure projects.\n\nThe Arab National Cement Company (ANCC), a subsidiary of regional cement producer ASEC Cement, is located some 220 kilometers south of Cairo in the Minya governorate. In addition to creating 400 direct and 800 indirect jobs, the plant will be the only producer of grey cement in the region giving it a strong competitive edge.\n\n“I was impressed with the progress I saw,” said Eissa. “In addition to providing much-needed employment opportunities, the high-quality Portland grey cement ANCC will produce will capitalize on the abundance of limestone in our governorate. What’s more, by choosing to build and create jobs in Minya, ANCC has positioned itself to serve high-demand markets across Upper Egypt.”\n\n“We are delighted to have hosted Dr. Kamel,” said ASEC Holding Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Giorgio Bodo, who noted that the project will also adhere to the highest global environmental standards. “With the cold run phase of the project now in progress, we are on track to start full production in April of 2013.\n\nANCC is backed by a US$ 200 million syndicated loan from a consortium of local, regional and international banks led by the Arab African International Bank (AAIB) as the mandated lead arranger and underwriter of the facility, which is split into in two tranches. Participating banks include Banque du Caire, United Bank, National Bank of Greece, Bank of Alexandria, Bank Audi and Faisal Islamic Bank.\n\nASEC Cement, a leading regional cement group, is the largest shareholder in ANCC with a 45% stake in the project. Other shareholders in ANCC include Misr Qena Cement (13.9%), Safari Investments (30.7%), IFU/FLS (9.2%) and other shareholders (1.1%).\n\nASEC Cement, a Portfolio Company of Citadel Capital (CCAP.CA on the Egyptian Stock Exchange), also holds a 28% stake in Misr-Qena Cement Company, a publicly traded company on the EGX (ticker: MCQE.CA).\n\n—Ends—\n\n \n\n\nASEC Cement is a Portfolio Company of ASEC Holding, Citadel Capital’s platform investment for cement, engineering and construction in the Middle East and Africa. Created by Citadel Capital and a group of leading co-investors, ASEC Cement is emerging as a leading regional cement producer that plans to control approximately 10 million tons of cement per annum by 2015 in attractive, key markets in the MENA region, including Egypt, Sudan and Algeria.\n\nCitadel Capital (CCAP.CA on the Egyptian Stock Exchange) is the leading private equity firm in the Middle East and Africa. Citadel Capital focuses on building regional platforms in select industries through acquisitions, turnarounds, and greenfields executed via Opportunity-Specific Funds. The firm’s 19 OSFs now control Platform Companies with investments of US$ 9.5 billion in 15 countries spanning 15 industries, including mining, cement, transportation, food and energy. Since 2004, Citadel Capital has generated more than US$ 2.2 billion in cash returns to its co-investors and shareholders (on investments of US$ 650 million), more than any other private equity firm in the region. Citadel Capital is the largest private equity firm in Africa by PE assets under management (2006-2012, as ranked by Private Equity International). For more information, please visit www.citadelcapital.com.\n\nFor more information, please contact:\n\nMs. Ghada Hammouda\nHead of Corporate Communications\nCitadel Capital (S.A.E.)\n\nghammouda@citadelcapital.com\n\nTel: +20 2 2791-4439 • Fax: +20 22 791-4448\nMobile: +20 106 662-0002