Egypt will merge seven or eight state-owned hotels into a single entity ahead of a listing on the EGX, Public Enterprises Minister Hisham Tawfik told Bloomberg Asharq. The new entity will be offered to investors in coordination with the Sovereign Fund of Egypt (SFE) in the coming months, he said.

Which hotels will be merged is still TBC: The ministry hasn’t yet evaluated the finances of hotels owned by the Holding Company for Tourism and Hotels (HOTAC), Tawfik said, adding that the plan would not include Nile Ritz-Cartlon, owned by Misr Hotels Company, which is already listed on the EGX.

HOTAC owns several leading hotels, including the Cairo Marriott Hotel, Marriott Mena House, Luxor’s Sofitel Winter Palace, and Aswan’s Sofitel Legend Old Cataract, according to its website.

What we know: The Public Enterprise Minister’s statements come a week after the PM said a number of state-owned hotels would be merged and offered to domestic investors as part of government plans to privatize state-owned assets and boost the private sector’s role in the economy.