Egypt's fast food group Mo'men plans to sell 40 percent of its shares in an initial public offering (IPO) in late 2012, its chairman said, a rare potential offering on a bourse that has had just one IPO in two years. Mohammad Mo'men told Reuters in an interview he expected the company to increase its revenue to about LE 1 billion ($176 million) in 2011 from a targeted LE 750 million this year, as well as planning to buy two small companies. The IPO's value "would not be less than LE 400 million and the preliminary date is the end of 2012," Mo'men said. The global financial crisis halted IPOs in Egypt after oil services company Maridive and real estate firm Palm Hills Developments sold shares in mid-2008. Then in June, dairy and juice maker Juhayna Food Industries sold shares to the public, stirring optimism the IPO drought was over. Real estate firm Amer Group may also make an offering before the year is over. Mo'men, owned by the Mo'men family, has brands such as Pizza King and Planet Africa. It operates in Sudan, Bahrain and Libya as well as Egypt and is seeking to expand into more markets in the Middle East. "We aim enter the Saudi market in 2012 and we will open our first branch in Qatar in the first quarter of 2011," Mo'men said. The company plans to take over a small Egyptian food company for between LE 60 million and LE 80 million and also wants to buy a chain of about 20 restaurants in Malaysia for about 15 million Malaysian ringgits ($4.9 million), he added. Mo'men said his company held about 16 percent of Egypt's fast food market — where it competes with McDonald's and other brands — and aimed to boost that share to 18 percent next year. British private equity firm Actis had invested in Mo'men but exited earlier this year.
