26-02-2025
Egypt plans to spur listings by moving state assets under wealth fund
Egypt is planning to move its state-owned enterprises under the scope of its sovereign wealth fund, TSFE, and enable the private sector to run them in order to maximize returns on trophy assets and encourage more listings in the short to medium term, Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade Hassan El-Khatib said.
Speaking at the Investopia 2025 conference in Abu Dhabi, El-Khatib said the new plan aims to further promote integration between the public and private sectors in the country.
'I want to move the state-owned enterprises in batches to the fund and as you move them, get the private sector to run them. The idea is to have a proper governance partner with the private sector and eventually, list these companies in some cases,' he explained. 'So, the perception of the SWF will be a maximization of yield on the Return Value Added valuation.'
The $12 billion TSFE, which is responsible for driving Egypt's IPO programme, achieved a milestone last year with the United Bank IPO in December, the country's first bank listing in over 25 years and the first IPO since 2021.
Egypt's cabinet also said revealed last year, its plans to finalise several offerings in the coming months, with an additional 15 companies scheduled for future offerings.
The Egyptian government has been reforming the business landscape in the country, facilitating the private sector to operate and lead economic development.
'Over the last 10 years, we have invested $550 billion in needed infrastructure but what has happened in this process is that private sector investments actually went down from 70% to 25%, which meant the role of the state needed to be further defined,' said El-Khatib.
(Writing by Bindu Rai, editing by Seban Scaria)
