State-run National Investment Bank of Egypt plans to float some of its shares in the Arab Investment Bank on local bourse soon, its board member Momtaz al-Saeed announced Tuesday. The banking official further told Amwal Al Ghad that the floating move aims to reinforce the Arab Investment Bank's financial position. Arab Investment Bank's current shareholding comprises the National Investment Bank, with a 91.5 percent stake, in addition to Egyptian, Syrian, and Libyan governments, with an 8.5 percent stake. Earlier last January, the presidency said Egypt 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. The statement followed a meeting between President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and ministers to discuss the stock market's decline. The statement did not specify 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. Documents seen by Reuters earlier showed there were 15 companies waiting to sell shares.
