King and Spalding advises Eastgate Capital on Egyptian pharmaceutical investment

The investment allows Sigma to expand into additional regional markets, including Saudi Arabia, Algeria and Sudan. Eastgate is the private equity fund management arm of NCB Capital of Saudi Arabia.

The transaction is the second investment of Eastgate MENA Direct Equity L.P. fund and its first in the healthcare sector, a key target sector of the fund.

Egypt is one of the largest and fastest-growing pharmaceutical markets in the MENA region, having grown in value over the past eight years at
an average rate of 15% per year.

King & Spalding lawyers on the transaction were partner Benjamin Newland and associate Taman Barhoush, of the firm's Dubai office.

Sigma Pharmaceutical Industries, SAE, was established in 1998. It is the 10th largest pharmaceutical company, in sales, in Egypt. Its
state-of-the-art manufacturing facility, Sigmatec, which opened in 2008, is one of the largest and most advanced sterile manufacturing facilities in Egypt.

Eastgate Capital Group, based in Dubai, is one of the largest private equity firms in the Middle East. It was established in 2006 as the private equity arm of NCB Capital, the investment banking, asset management and brokerage subsidiary of the National Commercial Bank of
Saudi Arabia. Eastgate has $650m of commitments under management.