CAIRO: Egyptian stock indexes rose slightly on Thursday supported by major real estate shares including Alexandria Real Estate Investment, which jumped after an acquisition offer, brokers said. Talaat Mustafa Group said it had made an offer to buy Alexandria Real Estate, its partly-owned subsidiary, for LE 394 ($69.66) per share in an equity swap as part of wider expansion plans. Eissa Fathi Eissa of the Strategic Company for Securities said the sector rose in active trade due to a continuous re-evaluation process in addition to news of expansion, especially the equity swap acquisition of Alexandria Real Estate Investment. Shares in Alexandria Real Estate jumped 4.4 percent to close at LE 414. Shares in Egyptian Resorts also rose, gaining 3.4 percent to LE 11.40 as the company submitted an application to list a capital increase of LE 262.50 million. The capital increase will be financed in cash through rights issue, the stock exchange said on Thursday. Shares in Sixth of October for Development and Investment gained 1 percent to LE 169.22. Overall, the well watched Case 30 index rose 0.3 percent to close at 8,477.05 points. The benchmark Hermes index gained 0.3 percent to 74,390.06 points, and the broader CIBC index was close to flat at 348.41 points. Further support to the market came from heavyweights with mobile operator Mobinil, which rose 0.6 percent to LE 182, and Orascom Construction Industries, which gained 0.6 percent to close at LE 409.02. Bucking the trend was Orascom Hotels and Development, which lost 5.1 percent to end at LE 64.99 on profit-taking after hitting a year closing high of LE 71.26 on Tuesday.
