SCA to IPO Canal Mooring and Lights: The Suez Canal Authority’s (SCA) CanalCompany for Mooring and Lights (CCML) is set to sell a 20% stake in an IPO on the EGX, SCA boss Osama Rabie said at a presser yesterday, according to local media. The company will be transferred to the newly-established holding company that will obtain ownership of some of the authority’s assets earmarked for privatization.

REMEMBER- Earlier this month, the ministers approved the establishment of a new holding company to handle “managing and investing” the SCA’s assets. Two of its companies — CCML and the Port Said Company for Engineering Works and Marine Construction — are being transferred to the holding firm. CCML was among the 32 companies named on the government’s privatization list earlier this year.

Advisors: NI Capital is the advisor managing the valuation and the listing, a source at the SCA told us yesterday.

Why the holding company? In short, it allows CCML to go public. Regulations governing firms under the umbrella of the Public Enterprises Ministry prevent companies from going public unless they’ve been in the black for the past three years, according to our source. Handing ownership of CCML to the holding company frees it from having to comply with these regulations, they added.

What’s next: We can expect more information regarding the timeframe for the IPO after the company has been transferred to the holding company, according to our source.

This is the second Suez Canal IPO announcement this month: The board of the Suez Canal Economic Zone earlier this month agreed to sell a 20% stake in the Port Said Container and Cargo Handling Company on the EGX.

CCML won’t be the first newcomer to the EGX this year: Qalaa Holding’s energy distribution company Taqa Arabia is expected to make its debut on the exchange in July via a direct offering in what would be the EGX’s first share sale of the year.

This is the latest in a slew of privatization news: The government is making progress in negotiations for the sale of a number of assets including Telecom Egypt’s stake in Vodafone Egypt, one of the Siemens-built power plants, Egyptian Chemical Industries (Kima),

Ethydco, and a number of state-owned hotels, according to recent unconfirmed reports in the local press. In a boost to the program, the government this week recruited the International Finance Corporation to advise it on its privatization efforts.

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