Egypt will offer additional shares in five state-owned companies on the Egyptian Exchange (EGX) during three months at a price that increases or decreases 10 percent from the market price, Egypt's business sector minister Hesham Tawfik said on Monday. "The offered price of the state-owned companies' shares will be its market price or greater or less than 10 percent", Tawfiq told a news conference on Monday. The government is working on a program to offer shares of dozens of its owned companies over the next three to five years in sectors such as oil, services, chemicals, shipping, marine services and real estate to help support the state's public finances. The Ministry of Finance said earlier this month that the government would start the offering program with a 4.5 percent stake in Eastern Tobacco Company. This will be followed by offering about 20 percent of the shares of Alexandria Minerals Oil Company (AMOC) and then other companies such as Heliopolis Company for Housing and Development. "We will be offering shares of another group of companies within six to nine months after the end of the first phase of offering shares in five companies," Tawfiq added. The last public offering of state-owned companies was in 2005 when shares of Telecom Egypt, AMOC and Sidi Kerir Petrochemicals Co. (Sidpec) were sold.
