A source has exclusively told Daily News Egypt that TAQA Arabia’s IPO plans have been shelved at least for the next five quarters.
This comes on the back of weak markets and lack of investment appetite, with the company’s IPO plans potentially stretching beyond the first quarter (Q1) of 2022.
TAQA Arabia’s management highlighted its leading position in the Egyptian government’s natural gas vehicle transition plans. The company ended fiscal year (FY) 2019/20 with 14 new gas stations, and is planning to add 40 stations over 2021, in addition to 60 stations in 2022 and 80 stations in 2023. It noted that the yearly revenue per natural gas (CNG) station stands at EGP 3m-EGP 3.5m.
TAQA is also anticipating a positive impact on its earnings from the new electric sub-station in 6th of October, which is expected to be inaugurated in 2-3 weeks. The company’s management also highlighted the deal struck by Dina Farms and TAQA Arabia, which will see the latter supply the former with electricity through a 6MW photovoltaic station.
Qalaa Holdings remains open to increasing its stakes in the Egyptian Refining Company (ERC) and TAQA Arabia, should agreements with existing shareholders regarding valuations materialise.
The Qalaa focus will continue to be improved operational performance, debt restructuring on the holding level and across platform companies, and early consolidation of results to track performance monthly.
It wishes to reach full control of subsidiaries, which could be an incentive for adding stakes within current platform companies or divesting the investment altogether, in case control is not possible. An example for that would be Ostoul, or the healthcare subsidiary within Grand View, but those are small companies.
