Dubai
Orascom Construction witnessed a spectacular debut on Nasdaq Dubai on Monday, and the company’s chief executive said it may list on the Egyptian Stock Exchange at least by Wednesday even as the company focuses on profitability in coming quarters.
Shares of Orascom Construction ended 2.87 per cent higher at $14.69 (Dh53.9), after hitting a high of $14.75. Shares worth about $7 million were traded on the exchange on its first day.
“We hope it will start trading in Cairo by Tuesday, if not Tuesday, at least by Wednesday,” Osama Bishai, chief executive officer, Orascom Construction told journalists at a press briefing at the Dubai Financial Market.
“Historically, the movement in our shares has not very volatile since have been in stock market in 1999. We expect some Dutch index based funds to come because of fundamentals,” he added.
OC sold 11 percent of its shares in a $185 million public offer at a price of 108.71 Egyptian pounds per share, securing a dual listing on the Egyptian bourse and NASDAQ Dubai.
Power plant financing
The first phase of $5 billion worth of coal fired power project, which would be 1,800-2,00 mega watt, may take at least 12-15 months, and the company is in negotiations with the banks for financing.
“The company is looking at 80 per cent debt and 20 per cent equity,” said Bishai.
“This is a project that we are working on very aggressively. The banks have put together the debt part. We are targeting that we will achieve the financial close by beginning of first quarter of next year,” he added.
The company had announced a joint venture with Abu Dhabi’s state-owned International Petroleum Investment company for a 3,000-4,000 mega watt.
The company is focussed on backlog and creating better revenues and profits and the company has been accumulating backlogs till September 2014, which is worth $5.6 billion, and it has a more than $1 billion from September till Monday.
“Our focus in the new months and quarters would be to enhance profitability and use some of our cash flow to take equities to create further construction opportunities,” said Bishai.
The company derived 43 per cent of its business from the US, and the rest is almost equally divided between Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
As a contractor in the Mena region the company is focussed on populous countries and its infrastructure opportunities. The countries, which the company is present like Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Algeria, represent about 50 per cent of Arab population with more than a half below 25 years old.
