CAIRO: Egypt s state-owned Banque du Caire will sell by auction the state s 82 percent stake in Suez Steel, the Investment Ministry said in an announcement in Al Ahram newspaper on Monday. The offer is open to strategic investors or groups of investors, who will have to declare an interest in the stake by June 27. The deadline for the sale of the stake is July 23. The bank will choose the three highest from among sealed bids and then continue the selection process, it said. Suez Steel was set up in the industrial zone in Suez province in 1997 and started production in 2000. It has a production capacity of 600,000 tons of steel billets a year, using scrap metal and pellets of direct reduced iron. Under the sale agreement, the buyers must agree to buy all the shares owned by minority shareholders at the same price as they pay for the government s stake, it said. Reuters
