Local investment firm Qalaa Holding, formerly Citadel Capital, is considering conducting a further capital raising exercise in the first half of 2015, says Amr el-Garhy, managing director, head of corporate finance at the company.

Qalaa increased its capital by EGP3.64bn to reach EGP8bn in October 2013. The transaction involved swapping shares in the holding company for bigger stakes in companies in which Qalaa has invested.

The capital increase allowed the firm to take majority stakes in most of its subsidiaries, in industries such as energy, transportation, logistics and agrifoods.

It formed part of Qalaa’s strategy to transform itself from a private equity firm into an investment company.

“We are looking now at another because the swap that we did did not include all the investors in the subsidiary companies, so there could be another capital increase,” El-Garhy tells MEED on the sidelines of the Invest in Egypt conference.

The forthcoming transaction could involve EGP2-2.5bn–worth of swaps, with the exercise due to be completed in April or May 2015.