Bloomberg.com: U.K.

Bloomberg.com: U.K.: "Compass Group Plc, Gate Gourmet International AG, and Alpha Airports Group Plc may be considering bids for a 40 percent stake in the catering unit of Egypt's state- owned airline EgyptAir, said a spokesman for the Egyptian company.
The three in-flight catering companies, along with Servair of France, are the only potential bidders so far to have applied for the sale prospectus, Ahmed Ragheb, a spokesman for EgyptAir Inflight Services, said by telephone from Cairo.
EgyptAir Inflight Services, part of Egypt's state-owned EgyptAir Holding Co., is seeking to sell a 40 percent stake to raise capital for expansion, said Mahmoud El Bassiony, a spokesman for EgyptAir Airline.
``We want a partner to raise the company's capital so we can expand and upgrade the catering service,'' said El Bassiony. ``The money will be used to buy things like new machinery.'' Neither spokesman would estimate the value of the stake.
The successful bidder will be announced in mid-October, said the independent business newspaper Al-Alam Al-Yom today, citing the unit's outgoing chairman, Salah El Werdani.
Alpha Airports' external spokeswoman Amelia Ward said the company wouldn't immediately comment. Nobody immediately called back after a message was left seeking comment from Compass. Nobody picked up the phone at Gate Gourmet in Switzerland. "