Egypt's Advanced Pharmaceutical Packaging, whose shares began trading on Sunday, said it would repay debts of LE 25 million ($4.5 million) over four years and will boost output. Advanced Pharmaceutical Packaging, established in 1995, has glass ampoule production capacity of 340 million units a year, and a glass vial production capacity of 73 million units a year. The debts include LE 20 million owed to state-owned Bank of Alexandria and LE 5 million to financial leasing companies, Walid Magd El Din told Reuters. But he said funds from this month's private placement would be spent on new projects. The firm raised LE 21.3 million last week in a private placing for 1.02 million shares at LE 20.88 each. The offering was 1.4 times oversubscribed and the stock traded 0.05 percent up at 20.89 pounds on Sunday. "Revenues from the private placement will be devoted entirely to new projects and investments for the company and will not be used to pay debts," Magd El Din said. "Offering shares on the stock exchange is in line with the firm's plan to boost its production capacity by 25-35 percent to meet rising export demand, which constitutes 10 percent of the business," said Chairman Mohamed Raef. The firm has paid-up capital of LE 34 million.
