IPO WATCH- Electricity Ministry to postpone IPO of three companies operating Siemens plant until after full subsidy elimination in FY2020-21: The Electricity Ministry is reportedly pushing plans to IPO the three companies that will operate Siemens-built power plants until the state fully eliminates subsidies for electricity, an unnamed source from the ministry tells Al Mal.

Background: We had said in December that the Egyptian Electricity Holding Company (EEHC) was in the process of establishing three companies to manage the combined cycle plants in Burullus, Beni Suef and the new capital, and was planning to list all three on the EGX once the three plants were up and running before the end of 2018. The source attributed the delay in the timeline to the ministry’s inability to conduct a fair valuation and assessment of its assets while still subsidizing power.

Delayed phase-out of electricity subsidies: The Electricity Ministry had decided last month to postpone the full elimination of power subsidies to FY2020-21 from FY2019-20 but said to expect prices to go up in July across all consumption tiers.