SHUAA Securities Egypt is targeting to be one of the biggest traders on the Egyptian Exchange (EGX) by the end of this year, chairperson of Dubai-based SHUAA Capital Jassim Al-Seddiqi told Daily News on the sidelines of a conference last week. The Emirati financial services provider has been working on re-launching its business in Egypt over the past six years, Al-Seddiqi added, pointing out that the company's current ranking is the 18th among brokerages operating in the North African nation. He stressed that SHUAA will be one of the five largest firms in the Egyptian market by the end of 2018 in terms of active securities transactions, on which SHUAA Capital will be the Middle East's first investment bank. He also projected the company to turn into an investment bank in the Arab world's most populous country in 2018. "We are currently working on obtaining licenses to provide financial consulting services, promotions, initial public offerings (IPOs) coverage, and assets management this year," he continued. The company is looking forward to implementing dual-listing transactions for a number of Egyptian companies in the UAE and vice versa, Al-Seddiqi said. The company is likely to start talks with a number of firms which are interested in dual-listing soon after obtaining licenses and regulators' approvals to provide this service in the Egyptian market, Al-Seddiqi highlighted. SHUAA Capital is also planning to expand into the North African nation, he added, noting that launching its business in Egypt is a major step towards further expansion into the Middle East. Launching SHUAA Capital Egypt is a major step towards further expansion in the Middle East, Al-Seddiqi highlighted on the sidelines of launching the company in Egypt. The company aims at recording strong financial results in 2018 after the powerful recovery in 2017 profits, which is a turning point for the Emirati company, he added. "We [SHUAA] believe in Egypt's abilities in promising investment opportunities and strong financial system, in line with implementing the economic reform plan," he continues. He revealed that SHUAA had started operations in Egypt in the brokerage business, while it seeks to be an investment bank to provide all financial services for Egyptian investment banks in 2018.
