Alaa Al Khawaja
chairs GroupMed

Mohammed Hariri is still

Chairman of Bankmed

Egypt-based Jordanian businessman Alaa Al Khawaja, who last year acquired a 42.24 percent stake in GroupMed Holding, has become the group’s Chairman.

Khawaja has replaced Mohammed Hariri who is still in his position as Chairman and General Manager of Bankmed which is fully owned by GroupMed. Mohamed Ali Beyhum has remained the bank’s Executive General Manager.

Khawaja acquired the stake through his company OLT Holding from Ayman Rafic Hariri for around $535 million as GroupMed was valued at nearly $1.27 billion. Bankmed’s total assets stood at $16 billion at the end of 2016. Besides OLT Holding, the other current shareholders in GroupMed are Prime Minister Saad Hariri who holds a stake of 42.24 percent and Nazek Hariri, the widow of former Prime Minister Rafic Hariri, who owns the remaining 15.5 percent.

Last year Khawaja said that his acquisition in GroupMed will pave the way for increasing and diversifying the group’s ownership structure which could result in launching an Initial Public Offering (IPO) of its shares.

Khawaja invests in a number of countries, mainly Egypt, in such sectors as movie production, intellectual property rights, real estate, the telecom sector, pharmaceuticals, and banking.