Egypt's Intro Group Snags a 50% Share in TBS and Four Fat Ladies Bakeries

Egypt’s famed TBS and Four Fat Ladies bakeries are in new hands now. Business newspaper Al Mal reported that Egypt’s Intro Group - primarily run by the Abbas family - has purchased 50 percent of Native Markets Ltd. for an undisclosed amount. You may not know the name Native Markets, but most Egyptians know its brands - NML is an Egyptian food and beverage platform that owns numerous beloved local companies, among them popular bakery TBS and the Four Fat Ladies, an American-style bakery chain. The deal was advised by EFG Hermes.

“EFG Hermes is proud to have facilitated a partnership that will allow for further strong growth and institutionalisation of a leading home-grown concept built up by Egyptian entrepreneurs,” stated the company in a press release regarding the new partnership.

Back in February, Al Mal announced that TBS had appointed EFG Hermes to raise $30-40 million in funding through incorporation of new shareholders. The company did not disclose its assets, but unnamed sources cited by the news agency claim its capital stands at about $50 million.

The news of this week’s major investment from Intro comes a few weeks after Daily News Egypt reported that Saudi Arabia’s Alhokair Investment Group had withdrawn from the running for the TBS investment; only to finish the announcement with a claim that the deal with Alhokair would be concluded within weeks and would be worth up to EGP 150 million. The final deal, which had nothing to do with the Saudi Arabian investors, was completed by the Intro Group, an investing conglomerate owned and operated by Egypt’s influential Abbas family.

Native Markets was founded in 2008 by a group of Endeavor entrepreneurs and investment experts: Sameh Sadat, Tareq El Nazer, and Basel Mashhour. The brand now owns and operates numerous smaller businesses across Cairo and Alexandria, among them Cairo’s well-loved Four Fat Ladies bakery, which it acquired in 2015. The whimsical, inventive bakery chain was founded in 2012 by three entrepreneurial sisters, Nira, Heba and Sherine Shunbo.

The partnership between Intro Group and Native Markets is expected to give the various branches of the company greater reach across Egypt and support its goals in increasing manufacturing capability. TBS, NML’s flagship business, operates eight branches across Egypt and plans to open an additional ten this year.