ORASCOMCONSTRUCTION INDUSTRIES من اصل4 3

the first time. One year later, OCI acquired a 50% stake in the BESIX
Group in a leverage buyout with management, adding significant exposure
in Europe and the Gulf. A BESIX Group consortium was awarded the
landmark BurjKhalifa contract to build the world’s tallest building.
In the mid-1990s, Mr. Sawiris transferred management control to his son,
NassefSawiris, who embarked upon an ambitious diversification strategy
through investments in complementary businesses such as cement and
building materials.
The Predecessor Partnership was converted from a limited partnership into
a joint- stock company and renamed Orascom Construction Industries
S.A.E. (OCI S.A.E.), under which all the construction and building
materials industries companies owned by the Sawiris family were
consolidated.
In 1 999, Cl S.A.E. launched an initial public offering of its shares on the
Cairo and Alexandria Stock Exchanges (now the Egyptian Exchange) at a
value of approximately $600 million, instantly becoming the largest
company on the Egyptian Exchange. Furthermore, OCI launched an
expansion strategy and added projects in Algeria and Tunisia for the first
time, as well as significantly expanding its presence in Qatar.
Orascom has been unprecedentedly developed year by year as one of the
most pioneering construction and building companies in the Middle East
and worldwide. In 1985, the Predecessor Partnership established its first
overseas company, Contrack , in McLean, Virginia to pursue USAID and
US government- financed construction projects in Egypt. Accordingly,
Contrack was recognized as a Top 400 US Contractor by Engineering
News Record (ENR) for the first time in 1991.
Orascom has contributed to the most significant projects in Arab countries
and all’over the world. In 2005, OCI was awarded the construction
contract for a sea water desalination plant in Algeria: Africa’s largest
desalination plant and the second largest of its kind in the world.