Private sector companies will have the chance to bid for some of Egyptian Iron and Steel’s land bank as the government continues the process of liquidating the state-owned company, Deputy Housing Minister Khaled Abbas tells Al Mal. The New Urban Communities Authority has been put in charge of preparing the sale, a process which is expected to take 2-3 months, he said.

How much land is potentially up for grabs? Egyptian Iron and Steel owns 6 mn sqm of land. We’ll likely find out how much of this will be auctioned off to private sector firms after NUCA has finished doing its thing later in 3Q.

This comes as part of Iron and Steel’s ongoing liquidation — a process expected to take up to two years that will see the perennial lossmaker sell its land assets to pay off EGP 9 bn in debts. Egyptian Iron and Steel officially halted its operations in late May until a compensation agreement is reached with employees.

The process has so far given us the newest entrant to the EGX: Iron and Steel’s mining operations have been spun off to form a new company, Iron and Steel for Mines and Quarries, whose c.978 mn shares began trading on the EGX at the end of May.