Cairo: Banque Misr wants to raise 10 billion Egyptian pounds (Dh2 billion, $568 million) through the sale of stakes in four companies and two banks, including Cairo Amman Bank, to boost liquidity, its Vice Chairman, Atef El Maghraby, said in an interview.
Talks to sell Banque Misr’s 10.78 per cent stake in Cairo Amman are preliminary, and the deal is expected to be finalised this year, Al Maghraby said in an interview., While several investors have shown an interest, no offers have yet been extended, he said.
The bank — Egypt’s second largest state-run lender — looking to sell part of its 100 per cent stake in Banque Du Caire, which the government has targeted for listing on the Egyptian stock exchange, he said.
“We expect to finalise the initial public offering of Banque Du Caire in the fourth quarter of 2018 — not before that,” Al Maghraby said, adding that the bank would retain a controlling interest.
The push reflects another step in the government’s efforts to reverse years of lacklustre performance by public sector firms as it looks to revive an economy battered in the wake of the 2011 uprising that toppled President Hosni Mubarak. Key to that have been measures such as the November 2016 decision to float the pound and cut fuel subsidies.
Those steps helped end a crippling dollar shortage and secure a $12 billion International Monetary Fund loan that, in turn, rekindled investor interest in the Arab world’s most populous nation.
The government is looking to sell shares in several public sector firms in the coming year, with oil companies and banks first up for listing.
Along with the sale in the bank stakes, Banque Misr plans to sell shares in four companies in order to raise 1 billion pounds, he said. Among those is its 2 per cent stake in Saudi Arabia’s Samba Financial Group. Samba Capital has been retained as the adviser in the deal.
He declined to name the other three companies.
