The government is stepping up efforts to fast-track its privatization program, having appointed investment banks and counsels for 10 companies as they prepare to offer up stakes to the private sector, according to a government document seen by EnterpriseAM. These companies include bottled water company Safi, filling station operator Wataneya, military-owned food manufacturer Silo Foods, fuel retailer Chill Out, crude refiner Midor, wind farm Gabal El Zeit, plastics manufacturer Alamal Alsharif Plastics, and HoldiPharma subsidiaries CID Pharma and Misr Pharm.

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The state raised 48% of its USD 12.2 bn privatization target for March 2022-July 2025, according to the document. During the period, the state sold stakes in 19 companies through direct stake sales and IPOs, raising some USD 5.9 bn.

If the landmark Ras El Hekma agreement is taken into account, however, we shot well past the target with a completion rate of 245%, according to the document.

Each of the four phases of the state’s privatization push has been smaller than the last, with the first phase of the program raising USD 3.1 bn by divesting from six companies, followed by a smaller USD 1.9 bn raised in the second phase with the partial or full exit from seven companies. The third phase saw proceeds fall to just USD 625 mn, achieving only 12.5% of the phase’s USD 5.0 bn target. The program’s fourth phase fell to only 7.5% of its target, raising USD 142 mn.

There’s no single reason for this, according to the report. Market conditions, ongoing program reviews, the government’s decision to expand the program, and restructuring some assets are all slowing down completion rates of the program.

ICYMI- The Sovereign Fund of Egypt is restructuring five companies affiliated with the military’s National Service Projects Organization to list them on the EGX before 2026.

The IMF has signalled that it’s looking for progress on the privatization front ahead of the combined fifth and sixth reviews of our USD 8 bn Extended Fund Facility Arrangement. The upcoming mission from the Fund next month will present privatizing state assets and expanding private sector activity in the economy as some of its most important demands, a senior government official told EnterpriseAM late last week.

REMEMBER- The government aims to drum up USD 3 bn in privatization proceeds this fiscal year, down from an earlier USD 5-6 bn target.

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