An official at Cairo airport says 19 private jets carrying families of wealthy Egyptian and Arab businessmen have flown out of the capital, AP reports.
The passengers included Hussein Salem, a close confidant of President Hosni Mubarak, and controlling shareholder in the East Mediterranean Gas Company (EMG), which has long term agreements to supply natural gas to Israel.
The official said the jets left Saturday carrying dozens of family members of Egypt's business elite. He said most of the planes were headed for Dubai.
EMG, founded in 2000, has a long term agreement to supply natural gas to Israel. The Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation and a group of Egyptian investors headed by Salem own 75% of EMG. Salem himself owns 28% of EMG. Israeli businessman Yosef Maiman owns 20.6% of EMG through Ampal-American Israel Corporation (Nasdaq: AMPL; TASE:AMPL) and Merhav MNF Ltd., and Israeli institutional investors own the balance.
EMG has a multi-billion dollar agreement with Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) (TASE: ELEC.B22) and only last month signed a major agreement with Israel Corp. (TASE:ILCO).
A spokesman for Merhav declined to comment on the report.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on January 30, 2011
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