Egypt is studying listing shares in two state-owned electricity companies on the stock market within this year, electricity minister Mohamed Shaker announced Sunday. This move aims to finance some projects in electricity sector. The minister added did not specify which electricity companies would be offered. Yet, he said his ministry is studying listing this year a firm that partners the German industrial giant, Siemens in one of the projects in the country. Earlier in January, Egyptian presidency said the country plans to list shares in state-owned banks and companies on the stock market, in a move aimed at jump-starting investment and boosting economic growth. "The coming period will witness offerings of parts of the capital of successful Egyptian companies and banks on the bourse," said presidential spokesman Alaa Youssef, without specifying which banks or sectors would be offered. The last time state-owned companies were listed on the exchange was in 2005 when shares of Telecom Egypt, the state's landline monopoly, and oil companies Sidi Kerir Petrochemicals and AMOC were floated. Last year, three major companies floated on the exchange -- cake and biscuit maker EDITA, real estate firm Emaar Misr and Orascom Construction. There are around 270 companies listed on the bourse and about 500,000 investors, of which between 80,000 and 100,000 are active.
