Egypte : 45% de la Banque du Caire est à vendre

After the failure of such a project in 2008, the Bank of Cairo lends itself again to the exercise. Projecting an IPO on the Egyptian stock exchange by the end of the first half of 2020, the bank opens up to 45% of its capital for sale.

The Cairo Bank could be partially privatized by the end of June. Its parent company, Bank Misr, announced Tuesday the opening for sale of part of the capital of this establishment, which will take place as part of an initial public offering of the Bank of Cairo on the Egyptian Stock Exchange .

“We want to sell a stake of up to 45%. The sale will be made inside Egypt, there will be no global certificates of deposit. […] It is possible that a foreign investor obtains a participation “, declared Mohamed Eletreby, president of Bank Misr, reports Reuters.

The banking group recently carried out a roadshow in the United States to arouse the interest of the investors, but nothing conclusive for the moment.

Very active in the Egyptian economy since its creation in 1952 by two wealthy Jewish families from Egypt, the Bank of Cairo still released $ 31 million for micro-enterprises, as part of the business development strategy. In Egypt, the bank has an extensive network of 150 branches across the country, but also being its ropes in Africa (Zimbabwe and Uganda), the Middle East (United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain), and in Ukraine .

Its privatization plan, however, is not new. In 2008, a sales agreement was canceled, while its IPO has been postponed several times in the past three years. This time, the banking group seems determined to make it happen. And the arrival of a foreign investor could give it a larger international scope, especially since the Americans, with whom Banque Misr carries out its seduction operation, are as best as possible looking for interesting positions in Africa.