Taqa Arabia acquires 10% of 172 Wataneya stations

The military’s National Service Projects Organization (NSPO) is handing Taqa Arabia a 10% stake in 172 stations from Wataneya’s fuel network, according to a Cabinet statement. The transaction parks the assets inside a new IPO-bound vehicle called Quick Fuel for Petroleum Products Trading and Distribution, which Taqa will now manage and operate.

Wataneya operates294 stationsnationwide (estimated to represent around 7% of the country’s fuel retail market) and the deal will cover only 172 of them. The reduction of the military’s economic footprint is part of the International Monetary Fund’s USD 8 bn loan program. NSPO retains a 20% cross-holding in Taqa Arabia, which it acquired in July 2023 from Taqa’s parent, Qalaa Holdings, at a significant 46% discount to market value.

The ghosts of bidders past: Wataneya has been stuck in the government’s privatization pipeline since at least 2020. The government spent years trying to secure a strategic foreign buyer, with Adnoc, Shell, and Vivo Energy all circling the asset before ultimately walking away from direct buyouts. Settling for a 10% transfer to a local player and kicking the can down the road via a future EGX listing is a significant change in strategy. To sweeten the pot, Taqa gets the option to acquire an additional 15% stake once Quick Fuel actually hits the trading floor.

What we don’t know: The pricing and exact listing timelines remain unknown. The Sovereign Fund of Egypt began restructuring Wataneya back in April 2025 — along with Safi, Silo Foods, Chill Out, and National Roads Company — for an EGX debut between 2025 and 2026, but the schedule was repeatedly derailed by regional market jitters.

ADVISORS- SFE is advising on the transaction. CI Capital is serving as exclusive financial advisor to NSPO, alongside legal counsel Adsero and accounting and tax advisor Grant Thornton — Saleh, Barsoum & Abdel Aziz. Taqa Arabia’s legal advisor is Zulficar & Partners.

In other privatization news

Another petroleum company joins the privatization show: Petroleum Marine Services (PMS) has applied to list its shares on the EGX main market, according to a statement from the bourse. The company is looking to list USD 120 mn in issued capital, split across 12 mn shares with a nominal value of USD 10 per share. The bourse is currently reviewing the paperwork before referring the file to the listing committee.

PMS joins an increasingly active oil-asset listing pipeline. The government will temporarily list 20 public sector companies on the EGX by the end of June, clearing the runway to list petroleum heavyweights Enppi, Petrojet, and Midor in July, the Arabic press reports, citing State-Owned Companies Unit CEO Hashem El Sayed.

The government expects to finalize the fair-value study for Misr Life Ins. within two weeks and will reveal the roster of interested investors in the first half of July, El Sayed said. The state is looking to float a 20% stake in the state-owned insurer on the EGX in a transaction quarterbacked by EFG Hermes.

On the Banque du Caire IPO front, El Sayed said that a 30% stake sale could easily be covered “within a week” despite previous delays. The transaction — guided by EFG Hermes and CI Capital — is now officially expected to wrap in November — a month later than the September-October window El Sayed told us about last week.

ALSO- El Sayed unveiled that the third iteration of the State Ownership Policy document will be issued within two weeks, backed by a broader mandate to restructure all state-owned companies by 4Q 2026. The government is also studying whether to list the New Administrative Capital company, and could announce its position by year-end, he adds.