Egyptian digital payments company Fawry prices IPO at 6.46 pounds

Egyptian digital bill payments company Fawry on Friday said it set the price per share at 6.46 Egyptian pounds ($0.3906) in its initial public offering on Cairo bourse.

The company said it plans to offer 254.6 million ordinary shares, representing 36 percent of its issued capital.

Investment bank EFG Hermes, which is managing Fawry’s IPO, announced earlier on Sunday the listing plan but gave no indication of the expected offer price.

According to EFG’s statement on Sunday, Fawry’s offering will include a private placement for institutional investors and an IPO for retail investors in Egypt at the same price.

Fawry said its private placement for institutional investors would begin during the period from July 26-31, while the IPO would be between July 26 and August 5. The company hopes the trading on its shares could begin next August 8.

Fawry’s network processed 600.1 million transactions last year with a total value of 34.2 billion Egyptian pounds ($2.1 billion), EFG Hermes added in its statement.

Founded in 2008, Fawry is currently owned by local and foreign investment banks, including the Egyptian-American Enterprise Fund (EAEF) (20 percent), Helios Investment Partners (Helios) (40 percent), the MENA Long-Term Value Fund (MENA LTV) (25 percent), and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) (5 percent).  It also operates in the banking technology field and provides services to individuals and companies. Management and employees hold around 8 percent of its shares.