Sawiris family office crosses majority control of OCI Global

NNS Holding, the Cyprus-based family office of Egyptian billionaire Nassef Sawiris, has moved past majority control of OCI Global, the Amsterdam-listed chemicals and fertiliser group at the centre of the Sawiris family’s fortune.

In a regulatory disclosure dated 17 July 2026, NNS said it had bought a further 420,730 OCI shares that day at a top price of €4.078, taking its own holding to 117,178,724 shares, or about 55.44% of the issued capital. Counted alongside Nassef Sawiris personally, who is also treated as a bidder under Dutch takeover rules, the combined stake reached roughly 55.63%.

The purchases form part of a voluntary all-cash offer that NNS announced on 24 June to buy every OCI share it does not already own, at €4.10 per share. Reporting by Billionaires Africa and Rio Times put the implied value of the company at about €866 million. OCI’s board recommended the offer on 1 July.

NNS describes itself as the investment arm of the privately owned NNS Group, which Sawiris founded in 2008. According to the disclosure, it “manages and invests the family’s capital through a diversified multi-asset platform spanning public and private equities, credit, and real estate”, and also co-invests with outside partners. It is OCI’s largest shareholder.

For the Sawiris family, the take-private is a means to an end. NNS has said it wants to break a deadlock over OCI’s proposed combination with Orascom Construction, another Sawiris-linked business. Away from the constraints that apply to a listed company, the family can pursue that merger on its own timetable. Once NNS clears the thresholds set by Dutch rules, a delisting of OCI from Euronext Amsterdam is expected to follow.

Deals of this shape have grown more common as founding families weigh the cost and scrutiny of a public listing against the freedom of private ownership. Where a family already holds a controlling block, buying out minority holders ends quarterly reporting pressure and gives it a freer hand over capital allocation, disposals and restructuring.

Minority shareholders now face a plain choice: accept €4.10 in cash or hold stock in a company heading for the exit from public markets, where both the free float and the ease of selling will shrink. The offer price sits close to the levels at which NNS has been buying in the market, which gives the family a firm reference point as it moves towards full ownership.

The episode shows how the largest family offices operate. They are not only allocators of capital across funds and managers; some are owners and operators in their own right, ready to act directly when a core holding is in play.

Sources: NNS regulatory disclosure, 17 July 2026 (PR Newswire); Billionaires Africa; Rio Times; EnterpriseAM Egypt.