Reuters – Shares in Egypt's Arabian Cement Company, the first major firm to undertake an initial public offering (IPO) on Cairo's bourse in around three years, will start trading on Sunday, the stock exchange said on Wednesday. Arabian Cement's initial public share offer was 18.5 times oversubscribed, an official at CI Capital, who advised Arabian Cement Company on their IPO alongside EFG-Hermes, told Reuters late on Tuesday. Egyptian stock market chief Mohamed Omran said the oversubscription reflected traders' appetite for any new stocks in the market, telling Reuters that the Cairo bourse was "ready to accept more offers". The offer raised $110m with 85.2m shares sold, placed at EGP 9 ($1.28) per share. Proceeds are set to go to existing share holders. Arabian Cement had set the price for its IPO at EGP 9 a share after a private placing was 11.3 times oversubscribed. It has previously said that trading will start around 21 May. Arabian Cement has a production capacity of 5m tonnes a year and a market share of around 8%.
