Banque du Caire priced its initial public offering at the top end of the marketed range, signaling strong demand for one of Egypt's biggest-ever listings. The final share price was set at 5.3 Egyptian pounds ($0.09) for the public offering, which runs through Monday. The private placement portion, accounting for 95% of shares, was six times oversubscribed, while excluding cornerstone investors, the offering was almost 20 times oversubscribed.
The upsized offering of 6.86 billion shares could make Banque du Caire one of North Africa's biggest share sales since Telecom Egypt in 2005. Banque Misr, the selling shareholder, increased the stake on offer to 45% from 30% due to strong demand. The deal secured backing from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the International Finance Corp., each taking a 15.74% stake in the private tranche.
The transaction is a key step for Egypt's government initiative to sell state assets to strategic investors or list them on the stock exchange.
Source: Bloomberg Markets · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing