IPO WATCH- Agrifoods player Galina eyes IPO in early 2021: Galina Holding is planning to make its EGX debut around the beginning of next year, by which time it expects markets will have stabilized from the fallout from the covid-19 pandemic, Chairman Abdel Wahed Soliman tells Al Mal. The company has tapped Renaissance Capital to lay out a plan for the offering, including the size of the transaction. The plan should be ready by 3Q2020, with an eye to take the offering to market by early 2021. Galina plans to use proceeds from the IPO to finance capex spending to expand its operations in fruit and vegetable concentrates and meat alternatives.

The listing has been a long time coming: Galina had begun looking at a potential EGX listing in 2018, when it was planning to spin off its fruit and vegetables processing business from its fruit concentrate unit. The company then decided last year it would list both subsidiaries, and had approached investment banks — including Pharos Holdings and EFG Hermes — to manage the planned listings. The company has, in the meantime, pushed ahead with growth plans, saying in May that it is building a new EGP 87 mn plant through a mix of self-financing and loans from AlexBank and the Saudi Investment Bank.

Greening-up its footprint: Separately, Galina has also locked down financing from AlexBank and the EBRD to partially power a facility in Alexandria with solar energy. The EBRD will provide a EUR 2.5 mn grant, while AlexBank signed off on a EGP 25 mn loan.