Cairo, (Business News Report)| The Arab Republic of Egypt intends to offer 10 government companies on the stock exchange during 2022.
The Finance Minister of Egypt, Mohamed Maait, said that his government’s goal this year is to put 10 government companies on the stock exchange.
Maait explained that the offering of the companies will vary between an initial public offering and a secondary offering, provided that the companies come from various sectors.
His statements come hours after the Egyptian Cabinet announced the discussion of the government’s plan for the current year 2022. The Egyptian government is looking forward to resuming the government companies’ program during next March.
The Egyptian government revealed in March 2018 its intention to offer minority stakes in 23 companies on the stock exchange, as part of a program to raise 80 billion pounds within 24 to 30 months.
About 21 months have passed since then, and the government offered only 4.5% of the shares of the Eastern Tobacco Company in 2019, part of the eFinance Investment Group in a public offering last year, and part of the shares of Abu Qir Fertilizers in a secondary offering at the end of last year.
Finance Minister Maait attributed the goal of offering stakes from government companies in the Egyptian Stock Exchange to increasing “the participation of the private sector, expanding the ownership base, attracting more segments of investors to the Egyptian Stock Exchange, attracting more foreign investments, in addition to enhancing foreign investors’ confidence in the investment climate and the Egyptian Stock Exchange.
“We determine the expected value after the propositions because the markets are volatile, and they change every moment,” he said.
Egyptian Stock Exchange
The net foreign transactions on the Egyptian Stock Exchange declined by 57% to about 6.6 billion pounds in 2021. This is compared to15.4 billion pounds in sales in 2020.
The market capitalization of shares rose by about 18% in 2021 to reach EGP 765.6 billion, supported by new offerings in the market.
The Egyptian Stock Exchange ended the transactions of 2021 with a rise of 10.18% for its main index EGX30, to close at 11,949 points. This is compared to a 22.3% decline the previous year due to the repercussions of the Coronavirus, and intensive foreign sales.
