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Friday, 5 August 2016

EGX GDR restriction will not impact CIB shares

In yesterday morning’s edition, we outlined new EGX regulations that add new restrictions on the shares that can be traded as GDRs — and noted incorrectly that the decision changed the limit. The cap that a maximum of a third of company shares can be traded as GDRs remains. What the EGX did was add a restriction: The percentage of shares traded as GDRs cannot exceed the proportion of shares in free float. Under the new rules, if the percentage of GDRs exceeds a company’s free-float, no new GDRs can be issued until the percentage returns to the level set by the new rule. Given the list of GDRs provided by the EGX, CIB’s shares will not be affected, contrary to our commentary yesterday. We try awfully hard around here to get things right, and we were wrong in this case. We regret the mistake.

…EGX Chairman Mohamed Omran told Reuters “the goal [behind the new limits] is to encourage companies to increase their free-floating shares on the bourse." The newswire adds that the change will impact Edita, which has GDRs representing 24.9% of its shares compared to just 14.12% free floating.

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