Egypt: The Egyptian government plans to start a roadshow to present “investment opportunities” to foreign investors and expects to raise $6 billion by June 2023

Hard hit by the war in Ukraine, Egypt has started discussions with the IMF. But that won't be enough. The country is preparing to sell some of its stakes, either to the public or to investment funds.

The Egyptian government plans to start a roadshow by the end of October to present “investment opportunities” to foreign investors, while Hala Helmy El-Said, Egyptian Minister of Planning, announced that his country expects to raise $6 billion by June 2023 as part of the sale of state stakes in public companies.

The commercial campaign that will crisscross Europe and Asia should allow the Egyptian authorities to approach the sovereign funds of the Old Continent, and especially those of the Gulf, supports Cairo.

The announcement of this roadshow comes at a time when the al-Sisi government is seeking to revive its economy, hit hard by the crises of the past two years.

The country has already raised $22 billion in its local debt market since March and has turned to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a new loan as the fuel and food import bill has since skyrocketed. the beginning of the war in Ukraine.

If no exhaustive list of the public companies concerned has yet filtered, according to the information, the participations of certain companies held by the Egyptian army could be sold, within the framework of this privatization program which should affect in all, more of a dozen public companies. The executive had planned to take 10 state-owned companies public this year, but the Russian-Ukrainian crisis delayed and upended the plans.

In April, ADQ, an Abu Dhabi-based investment and holding company, took over Arab state stakes in Commercial International Bank (CIB), Fawry, Alexandria Container & Cargo Handling Company, Misr Fertilizers Production Company (MOPCO ) and Abu Qir Fertilizers and Chemical Industries.

Last August, it was the turn of the Saudi Egyptian Investment Company (SEIC), 100% owned by the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), to acquire minority state stakes in four Egyptian companies for a value of $1.3 billion.

Earlier this month, the Egyptian authorities decided to readjust their system, by creating a new fund, the pre-IPO fund. This instrument is supposed to help restructure certain state-owned assets and prepare them for sale. We learn from the Minister of Planning that within three to six weeks, the government is preparing to transfer assets worth $3 billion to this fund, with a view to making them more attractive, particularly for investment funds. investment.