The Cairo-based investment bank Naeem Holding plans to list shares in Abu Dhabi to expand its investor base amid a bull rally on the Egyptian Exchange.
The dual listing would come as economic ties deepen between the Arab world’s most populous nation and the UAE.
Naeem stands to be the first company to list its shares on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange since National Takaful floated there in November 2011.
The Egyptian firm has received approval from the Securities and Commodities Authority to go ahead with its plan and is now in the process of putting together a request to the Egyptian financial regulator to get the green light, said Ahmed Riad, the head of investor relations at Naeem.
The size of the listing is yet to be determined, he said.
“There are a lot of investors outside Egypt who would like to get access to the Egyptian market now that the situation in Egypt has stabilised,” Mr Riad said.
Ties between Egypt and the UAE have improved ever since Mohammed Morsi was removed from office as president last year.
Arabtec, a contractor controlled by Abu Dhabi's sovereign wealth fund Aabar, said this month that it would build low-cost housing in Egypt valued at US$40 billion, its first major venture as a property developer.
The UAE Government has supported Egypt with billions of dollars in aid following Mr Morsi’s ouster. Since the change in government, the stock markets of Egypt and the UAE have also undertaken cooperation agreements.
Shares of Naeem, which are listed in US dollars in Cairo, have gained 65 per cent this year. That compares with a 25 per cent advance in the benchmark stock index.
The EGX30 is the world’s second best performing stock index this year, after Dubai’s main equity measure, among 94 indexes tracked by Bloomberg.
mkassem@thenational.ae
Follow us on Twitter @Ind_Insights
