The Sawiris family is one of Egypt’s wealthiest with an estimated worth of about $20 billion.

Together with their father, Onsi, the three brothers — Nassef, Naguib and Samih — preside over the family’s Orascom conglomerate, which stretches across the construction, hotels, telecoms and technology industries.

Today’s Orascom empire was built from the remnant of two initial failed attempts: Onsi’s first contracting firm was nationalised in 1961 under the Nasser regime, forcing him and his family to take off for Libya. There he built and lost a fortune too before returning to Egypt in 1977 and starting afresh.

Over recent years a flurry of deal-making, particularly by Naguib, the eldest son, has vaulted the Sawiris name on to the worldwide stage.

The deals have been spearheaded through a holding company, Weather Investments, which Naguib heads alongside the Orascom Telecom business.

Weather controls Wind Telecoms, which it acquired from Enel in a €3 billion deal in 2005 and Tim Hellas, the Greek player. It also holds a 51 per cent stake in Orascom, whose 65 million-strong subscriber base stretches across the vast and fast-growing markets of the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

As their core Western markets saturate, a foothold in such markets has become ever more in demand among European players such as Vodafone and France Telecoms.

Naguib’s next deal is expected to see him cash in on this demand by offloading a stake of about 10 per cent stake in Weather to private equity groups. Blackstone and Apax are the front-runners in the deal which could total as much as €1.2 billion.

The tie-up would hand the billionaire the financial firepower for future acquisitions — Bouygues Telecom, the French operator, is already in his sights despite the company’s insistence that it is not for sale.

Describing his relations with his sons, Onsi says that the family “talks frankly about everything.” He adds that they “do not believe that obeying their parents is a sacred duty".

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