The schedule of the state-run initial public offering (IPO) programme, including several details regarding the offerings of some public firms, is planned to be revealed in the coming two or three days, a senior governmental source told Daily News Egypt. The new programme is aimed at increasing the capital market's volume to make up 50-60% of Egypt's gross domestic product (GDP), compared to its current 20-21% contribution to the GDP. Earlier in February, Finance Minister Amr El-Garhy denied reports alleging that the government was seeking to collect $10bn from the government's IPOs over three years. The Engineering Company for Petroleum and Chemical Industries (Enppi) IPO on the EGX is scheduled to be the first of the stat-run IPOs. "All hurdles have been cleared. We are now awaiting a company's decision to start a roadshow for some major investors around the globe. We anticipate the company to go public by the beginning of the second quarter of the year," the source told Daily News on condition of anonymity. Last month, CI Capital CEO and Chairperson Mahmoud Attallah said that his company, which is advising on the IPO of Enppi, has cleared all legal and procedural hurdles. "All procedures to launch the IPO have been approved by the ministerial committee supervising the state IPO programme," said Attallah. He did not, however, give a timeframe for the transaction. But the source who spoke to Daily News Egypt said the IPO might take place in the fourth quarter of the year. Investment Minister Sahar Nasr had said last year that the listing, on which CI Capital is advising alongside Emirates NBD and Jefferies International, will take place in the first quarter of 2018. Enppi plans to offer 24% of its shares on the stock exchange and consider the fair value of the shares in coordination with NK Capital. Egypt plans to embark on its first sale of shares in a state-owned company in 12 years. It aims to raise up to $150m from the stock market listing of Engineering for the Petroleum and Process Industries in the first of a series of planned public offerings. The Enppi IPO is only the beginning of a pipeline of state-run companies to offer minority shares publicly over the next year. The government would retain majority stakes in these enterprises while helping, via the IPOs, to increase the size and liquidity of Egypt's stock market. Meanwhile, the chairperson of the Egyptian Exchange (EGX) Mohamed Farid said the state-run initial public offering (IPO) programme is expected to launch next April or May. The Egyptian pound's flotation has positively impacted the EGX, Farid added in an interview on CBC's Hona Al'asema talk show. The benchmark EGX30 index has hit 15,000 points and trading volume increased to EGP 1.2bn per day, up from a daily average of EGP 500m before, he indicated. The top official highlighted that Egypt's trading volume amounted to about EGP 2.2bn in 2007/2008.
