CAIRO: Trading on Egypt s small and medium size enterprises (SME) stock exchange Nilex will start between March and June, a newspaper reported on Sunday. We will start with three or four companies that comply with trading rules, most important of which is floating no less than 10 percent of their capital, the daily Al-Mal quoted Nilex Deputy Chairman Mohamed Omran as saying. Nilex was set up in 2007 to allow SME s to raise funds outside bank loans. Nine companies are listed on Nilex but trading has not started because the firms have not yet launched IPOs or private placements. Any firm that does not meet trading requirements within a year of listing will be delisted, Al-Mal quoted Omran as saying. Omran said he expected the Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority (EFSA), the market regulator, to raise the minimum capital for firms on Nilex to LE 100 million ($18.23 million) instead of 25 million, the paper said. Nilex officials could not immediately be reached for comment. The Egyptian stock exchange proposed in February several suggestions to boost listing and trading on the Nilex, including raising the minimum capital requirement to LE 100 million. The issued capital for the nine companies on the Nilex ranges between one million and 20 million pounds. EFSA, affiliated to the Investment Ministry, was established in June 2009 to oversee the capital market and non-banking financial services including insurance, mortgage financing and leasing.
