Tissue World Magazine
Alexandra Stuthridge, Technical Business Manager, BioProducts Institute (BPI)

(News from RISI) – A consortium led by Standard Chartered Private Equity (SCPE), the private equity arm of Standard Chartered Bank, has invested $175 million to acquire a “significant minority stake” in FINE Hygienic Holding, a subsidiary of Jordan’s Nuqul Group, according to a statement from Standard Chartered.

A majority of the investment will be used to fund the expansion of FINE’s production capacity, SCPE said.

According to a spokesperson from Standard Chartered, who declined to disclose the size of the stake, the other consortium partners are “selected Asian sovereign wealth funds and prominent Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) families.”

SCPE will be granted two seats on FINE’s board and will contribute to the firm’s growth strategy and an eventual IPO, according to the company.

“This is SCPE’s sixth investment in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) [region], and its second investment in a Jordanian-headquartered company, [taking its] overall MENA direct investments to $560 million,” the spokesperson said.

The Nuqul Group declined to comment on the matter.

The Nuqul Group operates four tissue paper plants in Jordan and Egypt: the Al Keena and Al Snobar mills in Jordan have an annual capacity of 30,000 tonnes and 54,000 tonnes, respectively.

In Egypt, the company manufactures 20,000tpy and 54,000tpy of tissue paper at its Al Sindian mills.

In addition, Nuqul Group has converting sites in Jordan, Saudi, UAE, Egypt and Morocco, with a total capacity of approximately 150,000tpy of tissue products.