Shares of Fawry, an Egyptian digital bill payments company, soared nearly 31.3 percent in their public trading debut on Thursday, valuing the company at 394.3 million Egyptian pounds ($23.8 million). They closed at 8.48 pounds. The strong performance helped the Egyptian stock market's main index EGX 30 close 2.16 percent higher at 14,180 points. Fawry floated 36 percent stake in an initial public offering in Cairo bourse, offering up to 254,629 million shares, including 31 percent as a private placement for institutional investors and 5 percent as an IPO for retail investors in Egypt. The initial public offering was oversubscribed by 30.3 times at a price of 6.46 pounds. EFG Hermes acted as the sole global coordinator and bookrunner for Fawry's combined offering. Zulficar and Partners was the combined offering's local counsel, meanwhile Zaki Hashem and Partners was the local counsel to the issuer. Founded in 2008, Fawry is currently owned by local and foreign investment banks, including the Egyptian-American Enterprise Fund (EAEF) (20 percent), Helios Investment Partners (Helios) (40 percent), the MENA Long-Term Value Fund (MENA LTV) (25 percent), and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) (5 percent). It also operates in the banking technology field and provides services to individuals and companies. Management and employees hold around 8 percent of its shares.
