CAIRO - One of Egypt's biggest investment banks warned that the government risked making a share price decline even worse if it didn't quickly reopen the stock market, shut by political unrest since Jan. 27. Egypt's financial authorities have several times announced the exchange's reopening only to postpone it at the last moment. It has yet to set a new date. Karim Helal, chairman of CI Capital, said his and other Egyptian investment banks were taking a beating because of the lack of share trading and financial uncertainty since the mass protests that toppled Hosni Mubarak began in late January. Analysts say the government is reluctant to reopen the bourse out of concern for the political and economic repercussions of a possible collapse in share prices and capital flight out of the country. Egypt's economy nearly ground to a halt during weeks of protests. Some of its main sources of foreign exchange, including tourism and foreign investment, have collapsed. Many factories continue to operate below capacity. Officials in several of the biggest companies trading on the bourse have had their assets blocked or been charged with crimes as the government investigates corruption under the old government. "At the end of day, there is going to be a hit. Somebody is going to have to take it," Helal said in an interview on Thursday. "Considerable damage has been done already. The longer you keep it closed, the bigger the damage." Helal said the exchange sentiment turned positive after Mubarak's resignation on Feb. 11, but this has dissipated as weeks go by and the bourse remains shut. "My feeling then was it was not going to be a collapse and it would gradually settle. Now, after such a long closure, I can't say the same anymore," he said. "You're going to have tremendous selling pressure. You have all sorts of people and companies and funds locked in for 40 days who need money. So there will be big selling pressure." "We are just bleeding every day, like everybody else," he said. "The IPO (pipeline) is shut for now. We have still two to three private equity type transactions that are still proceeding. Whether they will close I don't know." The overthrow of the government could nonetheless be great opportunity to cleanse the financial market and attract new investors, Helal said. "The problem is the small investor has lost his confidence. The perception is that this market is manipulated for the benefit of the big guys at the expense of the small guys." ($1=5.914 Egyptian Pound)
