Taqa Arabia shares will be listed on the EGX on Thursday: The EGX’s listing committee has signed off on the temporary listing of Qalaa Holdings’ Taqa Arabia, the EGX said in a statement (pdf) yesterday. Shares will be listed on the bourse on Thursday after which the company will have six months to meet listing requirements and obtain regulatory approvals.

So this is the energy company El Dokany was talking about? EGX boss Ramy El Dokany said last week that an unnamed energy company was preparing to join the bourse. In an interview with CNBC on Wednesday, El Dokany said the EGX hopes to finish listing procedures within a week or two and for the company to debut on the exchange in the next two months.

This isn’t an IPO per se: The company will directly list its shares on the bourse, without offering shares to investors via subscription.

The details: The energy company will list over 1.352 bn shares on the bourse at a nominal value of EGP 0.50, giving it an issued capital of EGP 676.2 mn, the statement said. Trading will eventually take place under the ticker TAQA.CA.

What we don’t know: It remains unclear how much the company wants to raise, how many shares it is considering selling, and when it wants to go ahead with the offering. A company representative declined to comment on the matter when we reached out yesterday.

It’s been a long time coming: Taqa Arabia was initially planning to IPO back in 2020, before its plans were derailed by covid. Qalaa had reportedly planned to list 30-40% of the company in the first half of 2020. The company had reached a valuation and wrapped up all procedures for the sale prior to the pandemic, but had to conduct a new fair value study and revisit the size of the stake to list on the EGX.

Taqa Arabia is an attractive proposition: Taqa Arabia is one of the leading companies in the energy distribution and utilities. Its operations span the growing gas, renewable energy and power sectors, and has experienced consistent revenue growth in recent years, with revenues growing at a 13% compound annual growth rate in the five years to 2022, according to our math.

Taqa in 2022:Last year saw the company’s revenues hit a record EGP 10.7 bn, up 18% from 2021, with solid growth across all of its segments. Taqa Gas’ revenues rose 41% to EGP 2.7 bn on the back of the government’s rollout of natural gas-powered vehicles and new residential connections under the Hayah Karima program. Meanwhile, revenues from Taqa Arabia Power increased 12% to EGP 1.8 bn due to rising distribution and generation volumes.

Expansion plans: “We are keen on scaling up our investments, services and project portfolio in Egypt and the region. This requires finding sources of financing and increasing the group’s capital in the coming period,” Chairman Khaled Abu Bakr was quoted as saying in a statement (pdf) yesterday. The company is preparing to expand in Saudi Arabia via a joint venture with the Saudi Natural Gas Distribution Company.

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