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Egyptian state-controlled payments firm e-finance for Digital and Financial Investments began an initial public offering (IPO) for retail investors on Sunday, an official from one of the banks acting as managers of the offering said.
A separate tranche for institutional investors that began on Wednesday will close on Monday, with the size of the subscription and the final price expected to be announced two days later, added the official, who asked not to be named.
E-finance, founded in 2005, is the sole entity authorised to operate the governmentโs financial network, including processing and settling payment and collection transactions, it said in a statement last month.
It is offering to sell 257.8 million shares, or 16.1 per cent of the total, to the public, including 177.8 million new shares and 80 million shares owned by current shareholders, at a maximum price of 13.8 Egyptian pounds ($0.88).
Of these, 90 per cent of the shares will go to institutional investors and 10 per cent to retail investors.
Among current shareholders are three state-owned banks: National Investment Bank, with 63.64 per cent, and the National Bank of Egypt and Banque Misr, each with 9.09 per cent, according to e-financeโs 2019 annual report.
The company had consolidated net income after taxes of 275.6 million Egyptian pounds in the first six months of 2021 on revenue of 904.4 million, it said in a financial statement included in its prospectus.
This was up from net income of 152.5 million pounds and revenue of 500.6 million pounds in the year-earlier period.
Total assets on June 30 rose to 2.32 billion pounds from 1.96 billion a year earlier.
The three banks acting as managers of the offering are Renaissance Capital, CI Capital Investment and Al Ahly Pharos.
REUTERS
