Egypt investment firm Arabiyya Lel Estithmaraat has paid 320 million Egyptian pounds for an 85 percent stake in the historic Omar Effendi department store chain. Mohamed Metwalli, chairman of the private investment firm chairman as well as head of the Arab Company for Investment and Development (AICR), said on Sunday the Egyptian government has approved the AIRC's acquisition of Saudi Arabian Anwal's stake in Omar Effendi. Metwalli said his company planned to update the chain, which operates about 80 stores throughout Egypt. Arabiyya Lel Estithmaraat specialises in financing infrastructure, real estate and industrial projects. The chain was bought by Saudi Arabia's Anwal in 2006 in a 589.5 million Egyptian pounds ($102.1 million) deal. The chain’s then sale by the Egyptian state was heavily criticised by the Egyptian media, which accused its government of selling national assets too cheaply. Omar Effendi was founded in 1856 as Orosdi Back and has long dominated the retail sector. It changed hands and acquired its current name in the 1920s before being nationalised in 1957. An Egyptian state-owned firm holds 10 percent of the shares, while the remaining five percent is owned by the World Bank. Meanwhile, Egypt newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm reported minister of trade, Rachid Mohamed Rachid, who is currently presiding over the ministry of investment, met with officials from the National Company for Construction to examine the legality of the sale of Anwal's stake.