Privatization program to resume in March -Maait: We can expect more state-owned companies to offer shares on the EGX in the coming weeks, according to Finance Minister Mohamed Maait, who told Bloomberg Asharq (watch, runtime: 3:26) yesterday that the state privatization program will resume in March. This comes a few days after Planning Minister Hala El Said said that the government plans to accelerate privatization by selling stakes in state-owned firms every month or two.

New momentum: The government’s privatization drive started to gain momentum late last year with the successful IPO of state fintech firm e-Finance and a secondary stake sale by Abu Qir Fertilizers. Before then, the program had only delivered one secondary offering in the three years since its announcement, due to poor global market conditions and the pandemic.

What is the pipeline looking like? While El Said declined to name which companies the government is planning on offering to investors, we know that state-owned Ghazl El Mahalla FC is set to offer a 67.5% stake in early February.

Further out: Heliopolis Housing and Development could finally go ahead with its secondary offering by the middle of 2022 in a revival of its plan to tap the EGX, while state fertilizer producer Mopco is also in the chute to tap the EGX before the end of the current fiscal year, Public Enterprises Minister Hisham Tawfik said in November. Meanwhile, the hotly-anticipated IPO of Banque du Caire could also be back on after it was postponed due to the pandemic, Tawfik said. Misr Ins. Holding could also pull the trigger on the IPO of its Misr Life Ins. subsidiary, which it said in November would happen during the second half of this year.