Egypt Edition 
UAE Edition 
Saudi Edition 
MENA <> India Corridor 
Logistics (MENA) 
Climate (MENA) 
Share
Read Full Issue 
Sovereign fund to put Mostakbal City developer up for sale: The Sovereign Fund of Egypt (SFE) will offer a 25-30% stake in real estate firm El Mostakbal Urban Development (Midar) to a strategic investor after recently adding the company to its pre-IPO fund, Asharq Business says, citing sources it says have knowledge of the matter. The pre-IPO fund looks to bring strategics onboard to invest and help restructure state-owned firms before they go up for a public offering on the EGX.
REMEMBER- Midar was one of four state-owned real estate players on the government’slist of 32 state-owned companiesset to be sold in the rebooted privatization program. The company is developing the Mostakbal City compound in New Cairo, next to the New Administrative Capital.
The pre-IPO fund so far: SFE head Ayman Soliman was in Marchquoted as saying eight firms in the privatization program had so far been added to the fund. While the fund hasn’t confirmed any names, local media has reported that participants include Misr Technology Services, Egyptian Drilling Company,Egyptian Linear Alkyl Benzene (Elab), Banque du Caire, Misr Life Ins, and Salhia Investment and Development Company. Asharq’s source also says Ethydco — which could be up for private and public offerings after its planned merger with Sidpec — is also in the fund.
The Elab transaction is scheduled for this quarter, Asharq’s sources said, without giving further details. Elab was previously said to have been earmarkedfor a listing as soon as June.
Is the privatization program on the precipice of seeing some movement? Planning Minister Hala El Said recently promised big news on the privatization front , saying the government had met its targets and would make news of transactions public after the Eid holiday. The government had been targeting asset sales of USD 2 bn by the end of June. It has so far raised only USD 153 mn that we know of, through the Pachin acquisition and a sale of 10% in Telecom Egypt. The International Finance Corporation last month came on board to advise on the privatization efforts.
In the frame: Recent unconfirmed reports in the local press suggest there’s been progress in talks over 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.
