Singapore buyout firm seeks to sell stake in Jordan’s Fine Hygienic

Fine Hygienic Holding

Singapore-based buyout firm Affirma Capital is seeking to exit its stake in Jordan-based Fine Hygienic Holding, one of the Middle East’s largest makers of tissue and paper products, two sources told Reuters.

Affirma is working with Moelis & Co to arrange the sale of its significant minority stake in the company, said the sources, who sought anonymity as the matter is not public.

Affirma, Moelis and Fine declined to comment when contacted by Reuters on Tuesday.

Founded in 1952 by Elia Nuqul, Fine serves consumers in more than 80 countries around the world. The company produces an array of products from facial tissues to kitchen towels to adult briefs and baby diapers.

Private equity players are getting increasingly active in the Middle East, driven by strong post-pandemic economic growth across a region buoyed by high oil prices and growing confidence in corporate boardrooms.

Affirma is the former private equity business of Standard Chartered. The firm, which manages assets on behalf of global limited partners and sovereign wealth funds, was spun out of the emerging markets-focused bank after seven partners led a management buyout in 2019.

Standard Chartered’s private equity arm in 2015 had bought the stake in Fine for $175 million.

Fine Hygienic Holding was planning an initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange, its chief executive James Lafferty was quoted as saying in media reports in 2020.

Private equity firms generally seek to exit their investments five to seven years after buying in.