Etisalat Misr in talks over Egypt’s biggest IPO in five years

The 66-per cent Etisalat-owned company has asked banks to make proposals to manage the share sale, according to Bloomberg News.

Etisalat Misr, the Egyptian phone company controlled by Emirates Telecommunications Corporation, is in talks with investment banks about what may be Egypt’s largest initial public offering in almost five years, according to three people with knowledge of the matter.

Etisalat Misr, 66 per cent owned by the Abu Dhabi company known as Etisalat, has asked banks to make proposals to manage the share sale. The IPO is planned for Cairo and may raise about $500 million, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information isn’t public.

A spokesman for Etisalat Misr didn’t return emails and telephone calls requesting comment.

At $500 million, the sale would be Egypt’s biggest since Citadel Capital SAE raised $605m in 2009, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Egyptian companies are reviving share sales as they seek to benefit from a 30 per cent gain in the country’s benchmark EGX30 Index this year. Edita Food Industries, an Egyptian snacksmaker

part-owned by London-based buyout firm Actis, is considering an IPO, Bloomberg News reported in May.

Arabian Cement Company raised $110m that month from an IPO, the country’s first since the 2011 uprisings.

Etisalat Misr reported revenue of Dh1.2 billion in the second quarter, an increase of 5 per cent over the same period last year, according to parent

company Etisalat’s financial statements. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization was Dh500m. Etisalat has operations in 19 countries across the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

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