Egypt’s Beltone Capital targets share sale in 2016

Egypt’s Beltone Capital, which aims to raise 1 billion Egyptian pounds ($128 million) in an initial public offering, has pushed back its plans to the first half of 2016, Chairman Hazem Barakat told Reuters.

The offering had initially been earmarked for the last quarter of this year.

Beltone Capital is a private equity firm owned by a number of Egyptian and Arab investors. It owns about 8 percent of Egyptian developer Medinet Nasr and 19 percent of Total Egypt, a subsidiary of French oil major Total.

“The time is not right now to issue in the market. We are aiming to issue in the first half of 2016 to raise up to one billion pounds,” Barakat said on Tuesday.

Beltone Capital’s board of directors agreed on a fair share value of 27.28 pounds, the firm said in a statement earlier on Tuesday, adding that it would change its name to Avaris Holding for Financial Investments.

However, shares are likely to be sold at a discount to that figure.

“The fair value is still under discussion with the financial supervisory authority.. The issuance will certainly be less than this value,” Barakat said.

Formed in 2006, Beltone Capital had capital of 584 million Egyptian pounds as of July this year. ($1 = 7.8300 Egyptian pounds).

source: Reuters