By: Ahmed Kamel CAIRO, March 21, 2018 - In what analysts described as a milestone on the road to comprehensive economic reform, the Finance Ministry has announced a programme for free floating stakes in 23 state-owned companies.The free-floated stakes will stand at 15-30 per cent through initial public offerings (IPOs). The ministry has estimated the market value of the IPOs at LE430 billion (around $24.4 billion). Several analysts praised the IPO program and stressed the need to set clear-cut criteria for pricing the state-owned firms included in the IPO programme. "The programme includes IPOs of some state-owned companies for the first time and increases free-floated stakes in others," said financial analyst Mohamed Saeed. The government is planning to sell off stakes in public assets as part of its economic reform programme, approved by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in November 2016. The Finance Ministry will draw up a timetable for selling off stakes in state-owned companies under the IPO programme. "The real estate sector will boom thanks to the IPOs as many investors favour shares in property companies. The property sector is now very active and it is attracting growing liquidity," Saeed noted. The IPO programme includes only two real estate firms: Heliopolis for Housing & Development and Madinet Nasr for Housing & Development. The local property sector has gained much momentum since the Central Bank of Egypt floated the pound on November 3, 2016. The US dollar jumped from LE7.8 to around LE17.6 at the local banks. The price of housing units surged by around 30-50 per cent. However, in 2017, Cairo's real estate market showed resilience in a "year of adjustment", with most sectors bouncing back from the effects of monetary policy changes and the devaluation of the Egyptian pound in 2016, real estate services firm JLL said in a report released in January. "Residential sale prices witnessed sweeping increases in terms of the Egyptian pound in 2017 and this trend continued in the final quarter of the year. Given the decline in the value of the local currency, prices have however declined in terms of the US currency during 2017," it said. The banking sector is also expected to attract investors, especially foreigners, analysts say. "Investors will also focus on stakes to be floated in a number of banks," Saeed noted. The government said it would sell off stakes in the Housing & Development Bank, Banque du Caire and the Bank of Alexandria. "The IPO programme will take advantage of booming equities as the stock market has surged since the flotation," said financial analyst Mohsen Khodeir. "The IPO programme will also greatly benefit from newly endorsed legislative amendments and regulations governing the capital market," he added
