Eastern Tobacco’s public offering 42.3% covered on second day of subscription
IPO WATCH- Eastern Tobacco’s public offering 42.3% covered on second day of subscription: The public offering portion of Eastern Tobacco’s share sale was 42.3% covered by the end of the second day of subscription, according to local media reports. The public offering ends today. The private placement, which constituted 95% of the share sale, was 1.8x oversubscribed at EGP 17/share over the weekend. EFG Hermes has advised on the transaction.
Gov’t defends its decision to be secretive over share sale: The Public Enterprises Ministry released a statement (pdf) yesterday defending last week’s private offering against what it described as “Facebook comments from non-specialized” users regarding the details of the share sale. The ministry defended its decision to abstain from announcing the offering prior to taking it to market as a deliberate measure to avoid fluctuations in the share price.