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Philip Morris International, which owns brands such as Marlboro, L&M, Merit, and Parliament and is the world’s top tobacco company by market value, has bought 14.7 percent of Egypt’s Eastern Company, which also includes cigars and pipe tobacco in its portfolio.
The American tobacco giant Philip Morris International (PMI) has acquired a minority stake in Egypt’s largest cigarette manufacturer.
PMI, which owns brands such as Marlboro, L&M, Merit, and Parliament and is the world’s top tobacco company by market value, has bought 14.7 percent of Egypt’s Eastern Company, which also includes cigars and pipe tobacco in its portfolio.
The value of the deal was not disclosed. Out of a population of 104 million, 18 million Egyptians smoke, the country’s Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics says, although the number of smokers over the age of 15 dropped from 17.3 percent in 2020 to 16.8 percent in 2022.
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Eastern Company produces 70 billion cigarettes a year, with a market share of around 75 percent in Egypt, its CEO, Hany Aman, said in an interview with Arab News last year.
Egypt plans to raise US$5 billion by selling stakes in 35 state-owned companies through offering shares to strategic investors or sales on the country’s stock exchange, or a combination of the two. Smoke-free products accounted for approximately 37 percent of PMI’s total full-year 2023 net revenues.
