Pharos Holding is looking to close transactions worth EGP 7.5 bn over the next 18 months as it moves into non-banking sectors, CEO Elwy Taymour told Reuters in an interview (here for Arabic). He says the transactions range from M&As to IPOs and capital increases for companies “operating in the food, retail, healthcare and chemical industries.” Pharos is targeting increasing its financial portfolio of around EGP 4 bn by up to EGP 2 bn in 2018, with Taymour saying “we got two licences in financial leasing and microfinance from the Financial Supervisory Authority in February and we have already established two companies, but we haven’t started the operation yet.” He also says Pharos has begun operating in Dubai after obtaining a license in May and is also looking into setting up shop in the UK. Domestically, Taymour says Pharos is working on expanding its brokerage services to retail clients, as it retains its corporate business, with an aim to expand electronic trading starting from next year. Taymour believes that the stamp tax applied on EGX transactions has affected the market negatively and drove trading volumes down. He tells Reuters the stamp tax policy needs to be revisited because the market is not doing well.

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