The holding company for chemical industries in Egypt – the main shareholder of the Oriental company “eastern company” – has received several offers from foreign investors to purchase a share not exceeding 30% of its total share of 50.95% of the shares of the Oriental company “eastern company”.
The company explained in a statement, on Tuesday, that negotiations are underway with its providers to choose the best one, knowing that the implementation of the transaction is linked to the procedure An examination of ignorance.
This comes within the framework of the state's directives on the program of offering state-owned companies on the stock exchange, with the aim of expanding the ownership base, activating trading on the Egyptian Stock Exchange, enhancing investment opportunities and benefiting from the proceeds of the stock offering in the development, modernization and restructuring processes.
The completion of the sale will give a boost to Egypt's struggling privatization program. According to the calculations of "Reuters", this will reduce the share of the main shareholder holding company for chemical industries, which amounts to 50.95% of the eastern shares to about 35.67%.
In 2019, the government sold up to 4.5% of its shares in the eastern smoke company, and retained a majority stake in the holding company.
The ownership structure of the eastern company “eastern company "is distributed between the holding company for chemical industries affiliated to the government and owns about 51%, the investment fund “Alan Gray" owner of about 7.2% of the shares, and the”Union of employees shareholders” 5.2%, while the remaining shares are free to trade on the Egyptian Stock Exchange.
The Eastern Company achieved a strong financial and operational performance during the first half of 2023, and achieved profits of 5.29 billion pounds during the period from July to March 2023, compared to profits of 4.25 billion pounds in the comparative period of the last fiscal year.
The company's revenues increased during the period to EGP 14.6 billion, compared to revenues of EGP 12.78 billion in the comparative period of the last fiscal year, with a growth rate of 14%
As part of an agreement in December to get a three-billion-dollar financial support package over 46 months, Egypt pledged to the IMF to reduce the role of the state in the economy and give a greater role to the private sector.
The first review under the (Extended Fund Facility) between Egypt and the IMF, which was initially scheduled to take place in March, has not yet been carried out, partly due to the slow progress of asset sales in Egypt.
Since then a number of sales deals to foreign investors have been announced in principle, but few have been completed.
Sharqiya's share price jumped 8.7% on Tuesday to EGP 19.84 (USD 0.64) per share.
Source : Arabic
