IPO WATCH- Banque du Caire postpones IPO on market turmoil, chairman confirms: State-owned Banque du Caire (BdC) has shelved plans to debut 20-30% of its shares on the EGX in April thanks to fallout from the covid-19 pandemic, Chairman Tarek Fayed confirmed to Al Masry Al Youm in an interview published yesterday. “Plans to offer shares on the EGX have been postponed due to the global and local spread of covid-19 and its impact on global and local markets,” Fayed said.

It was expected: Fayed had indicated last month that completion of the transaction would depend on the state of the markets.

The 1H2020 IPO season is ending without an offering after state-owned e-payments firm E-Finance pushed its IPO date to the final quarter of 2020 after having previously been expected to go public this month. No private-sector companies are in the market now, and no serious analyst expects the government to go ahead with stake sales of already-listed SoCs in the current climate. As one of the smartest guys we know in finance put it yesterday: “The market for new equity offerings in this part of the world is dead until fall, probably late fall, at the earliest.”

Background: BdC was hoping to raise some USD 500 mn via its IPO on the EGX this month in what was expected to be the country’s biggest sale of state assets since 2006. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the Sovereign Fund of Egypt, and Abu Dhabi Development Holding were reportedly considering purchasing a stake.