(AFP PHOTO/KHALED DESOUKI)
The Listing Committee of Egyptian Stock Exchange (EGX) approved Emaar Properties PJSC and Orascom Construction (OC) listings in EGX, with capitals amounting to $878m and $105m, respectively. These are the biggest listing operations in EGX for almost five years.
OC is the first foreign company to list its shares in EGX due to the dual listing system in the form of shares rather than Egyptian certificates of deposit for approximately 20 years. The company was listed in NASDAQ Dubai.
“This is a good step that EGX was keen to finish before the Economic Summit,” said Chairman of EGX Mohamed Omran. He added that these two operations send a strong message to the local and foreign investment community, showing the companies’ trust in the Egyptian economy. It is also an indication that companies trust the volume of liquidity available in the local market and its ability to meet the expansion plans and capital increase over the next period.
Omran assured that the capital listed during the first quarter of 2015 is roughly $2bn, which is equal to the capital listed during 2014 and 2013, and two-thirds of the capital listing volume between 2011 and 2014. He added that it is an important indication that the economy has started to head in the right direction, and with continuing economic reforms, it can get back to high growth rates allowing it to achieve economic and social development goals.
Omran clarified that the dual listing of OC indicates that the Egyptian market still has strong competitiveness, where EGX intensively invested during the past years to develop the technological, legislative and organisational bases of the Egyptian market to match international standards.
In its 2013-2017 strategy, EGX relied on an intensive campaign aiming to attract strong companies in order to strengthen the market, which is done through intensive advertising campaigns targeted to convince powerful companies of the importance of listing in the Egyptian market, instead of companies waiting to be listed, which contributed to listing a lot of companies during the last 15 months.
