Nassef Sawiris, Egypt's wealthiest individual, is planning a significant strategic shift by targeting up to $50 billion for investment in United States infrastructure projects. This new focus is part of a major corporate consolidation that will see his publicly traded companies merge and list in Abu Dhabi.
The move follows Sawiris's recent relocation from the United Kingdom to Abu Dhabi and Italy. The restructuring involves merging his chemicals group, OCI Global, with the family's construction firm, Orascom Construction, to create a new entity focused on capitalizing on the growing demand for infrastructure in the U.S.
Key Takeaways
- Nassef Sawiris plans to invest up to $50 billion in U.S. infrastructure over the next decade.
- The plan involves merging OCI Global and Orascom Construction into a new company.
- This newly formed entity will be listed on the Abu Dhabi stock exchange.
- The strategy leverages Orascom's construction expertise and over $1 billion in cash from OCI.
- Sawiris recently moved his primary residence from the UK to Abu Dhabi and Italy, citing tax changes.
A Strategic Shift to US Infrastructure
The core of the new strategy is a major investment push into the American infrastructure market. The company intends to deploy its own capital alongside funds from partners through both equity and credit investments over the next ten years.
The focus will be on high-growth sectors where there is a surge in spending, such as the construction of data centers, airport terminals, and university facilities. This move aims to leverage the deep construction and project management experience of Orascom Construction.
"We want to focus the next stage of our business on the area we see the biggest opportunity, which is infrastructure," Sawiris told the Financial Times.
This initiative positions the new company to compete in a space that has attracted significant attention from private capital firms, including major players like BlackRock’s GIP and Brookfield Asset Management.
Established US Presence
Orascom Construction already operates in the U.S. through its subsidiary, Weitz, which it acquired in 2012. Weitz has a track record of building complex projects, providing an existing foundation for the expanded infrastructure push.
Corporate Restructuring and Abu Dhabi Base
To facilitate this new direction, Sawiris is undertaking a significant corporate overhaul. His Dutch-listed chemicals and fertilizer group, OCI Global, is being merged with the family's legacy business, Orascom Construction. An official announcement about the merger is expected on Monday.
The newly combined company will be headquartered and publicly listed in Abu Dhabi. This decision aligns with Sawiris's personal move, having recently redomiciled to the emirate after leaving the UK. His departure was part of a trend among several high-net-worth individuals relocating due to changes in British tax policy.
The restructuring follows a period of extensive asset sales at OCI Global. Over the past two years, the company has sold off assets valued at more than $11.6 billion as part of a strategic review initiated in 2023.
Recent Divestments
A key part of this asset realignment was the sale of OCI's global methanol business to the U.S. company Methanex for approximately $2 billion last year. The company has also been exploring the sale of its remaining European assets.
This consolidation will provide the new infrastructure venture with substantial financial resources, including more than $1 billion in cash and other proceeds currently on OCI's balance sheet.
Leveraging Construction Expertise Over Finance
Sawiris has emphasized that the competitive advantage of his new venture will be its deep-rooted expertise in construction, a quality he believes sets it apart from purely financial investors.
He compared his company's approach to that of successful European firms like France's Vinci and Spain's Ferrovial, which have strong operational backgrounds in construction and project management.
"Any day, these companies will be more successful than a bunch of bankers who do desktop analysis of an asset and then struggle to create the most value," Sawiris stated, highlighting his confidence in an operations-first model.
The industrialist has also been openly critical of the private equity sector's approach to infrastructure, suggesting earlier this year that the industry's most profitable era has passed.
A History of Successful Business Pivots
This move into U.S. infrastructure marks the latest major pivot in Nassef Sawiris's career. With a fortune estimated by Forbes at nearly $9 billion, he has a history of successfully transforming his family's business empire.
The Orascom Legacy
Nassef Sawiris is the youngest son of the late Onsi Sawiris, who founded a small construction company in the 1950s. Under the family's leadership, it grew into the multinational corporation now known as Orascom.
One of his most significant previous shifts was the move away from cement. In 2007, he sold Orascom’s cement division to the French group Lafarge in a deal valued at over €10 billion. Following that sale, he shifted his focus heavily toward the chemicals industry with OCI Global.
According to an audit by KPMG, the combined performance of OCI and Orascom has been impressive. Between Orascom's public listing in 1999 and the end of 2024, the companies generated a combined internal rate of return of over 39% and distributed more than $22 billion in dividends to shareholders.
This track record of strategic realignment and value creation provides a strong foundation for the company's ambitious new chapter focused on American infrastructure.
