IPO WATCH – Pharma company looking to make EGX debut this year: One private pharma company worth more than USD 61 mn is planning to offer shares on the stock market by year’s end, Sayed Abdel Fadeel, head of the Financial Regulatory Authority’s corporate finance department, told Reuters without naming the company. EGX Chairman Mohamed Farid said that the stock exchange is working with two companies on the procedures of listing and selling shares on the EGX, but that the timing of the transactions is contingent on market conditions and how fast the companies finish preparations.

FRA is reassuring everyone that the state will sell shares under the privatization program this year: The government expects to sell shares in two state companies on the EGX by year’s end, Abdel Fadeel said. What Abdel Fadeel didn’t do was specify whether these were share sales or IPOs, and so we are no closer to discerning the timeline for the state privatization program.

What we know of the program: What we know of the state privatization program is that Alexandria Containers and Cargo Handling Company (ACCH), Abu Qir Fertilizers, and Sidi Kerir Petrochemicals (Sidpec) are looking for stake sales in the vein of Eastern Tobacco’s 4.5% stake sale in March. State e-payments platform e-Finance and Banque du Caire are looking for initial public offerings.

What we don’t know: The timing of how all this will play out. Public Enterprises Minister Hisham Tawfik had told us that IPOs have been postponed to early 2020. Earlier this month, however, e-Finance Chairman and Managing Director Ibrahim Sarhan said that the IPO would take place this year, contradicting statements he made weeks prior that the IPO was not a certainty.