Citadel co-founds Egyptian Private Equity Association

The founding members of Cairo-based Citadel Capital have announced the launch of the Egyptian Private Equity Association (EPEA).

Senior executives at the firm were joined by Carlyle co-founder David Rubenstein, who spoke about the current challenges and opportunities in the private equity market an event announcing the launch this week.

Citadel co-founder and managing director Hisham El-Khazindar will represent the firm on the EPEA’s board of directors.  Citadel has investments in 14 countries across 15 industries in the Middle East and Africa, and has raised more than $3.5 billion of equity and debt so far in 2010.

The firm is independently ranked as the largest private equity firm in Africa, and recorded net earnings of $38.1 million for the year ending 31 December 2009 on revenues of $79.2 million. The firm’s net earnings increased by 806.7 percent as compared to the year ending December 2008, according to a statement.

Since its founding in 2004, Citadel has generated more than $2.5 billion in returns on investments of $650 million.