That ACUD IPO is still alive: The company in charge of developing the new administrative capital could move forward with an IPO on the EGX during the first half of 2024, according to Asharq Business. Administrative Capital for Urban Development (ACUD), a joint venture between the military and the Housing Ministry, is considering offering 5-10% of its shares to investors, the news outlet reported yesterday, citing an interview with the chairman of the company, Khaled Abbas.

This has been a while coming: The prospect of the company going public was first raised by President Abdel Fattah El Sisi back in August 2021 when he floated the idea of a share sale by 2023. The following year CI Capital was hired to advise on the offering.

Setting expectations high: The company emphasized the potential size of the share sale following the president’s initial announcement, with then-company chairman Ahmed Zaki Abdeen telling Bloomberg that ACUD could become the largest IPO in Egypt’s history.

It’s unclear what kind of valuation the company could fetch, with the details of its balance sheet and assets remaining secret. El Sisi said back in 2021 that ACUD had EGP 3-4 tn of assets under management as well as liquid assets worth EGP 100 bn.

And it’s not certain what would be offered: Though the president said initially that ACUD itself would be listed on the exchange, comments made by Abdeen to the press the following year suggested that it may instead look to sell shares in several of its subsidiaries.

Refresher: Since being established in 2016, ACUD has been in charge of selling the 700 square-km new capital land bank to developers and government bodies, awarding construction and services contracts, and supervising the development of the city. The military owns 51% of ACUD and the Housing Ministry holds the remaining 49%.

ALSO- Gulf developers could work on projects in the new capital: ACUD will this year announce agreements with Gulf investors who will work on developing projects in the second and third phases of the new capital, Abbas told the news outlet. The company received several offers from industrial developers to build projects on the 1 mn square-meter industrial zone, and is in the process of inking an agreement with an unnamed Emirati company to develop a 1000-feddan industrial zone, he said.

Gulf real estate developers and contractors have by and large yet to get involved with the new capital, with few big names working on construction or committing to real estate developments since the project started in 2015. UAE-based contractor ASGC was contracted to construct residential blocks and infrastructure works in several areas of the city, while Sky, a subsidiary of Emirati developer Diamond Group, began work on a project in the new capital in 2021.

Local developers also want to pitch in: Three major local companies that work in industrial development have submitted offers to develop projects in the industrial zone, he added.

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