Egypt’s Pioneers plans IPO of real estate developer Rooya

Egypt’s Pioneers Holding is seeking an initial share offering of real estate developer Rooya worth at least one billion Egyptian pounds ($128 million), Pioneers’ chief executive said Monday.

Pioneers, which specialises in market research and brokerage services but also has investment arms in real estate, industry and financial services, acquired 60 percent of Rooya’s shares in March for 1.226 billion pounds.

“The listing on the bourse should be complete by this quarter (Q3 2015), God willing, and the shares should be issued during the first quarter of 2016,” Pioneers Chief Executive Waleed Zaki told Reuters in a telephone interview.

“We cannot specify the size right now, but it will be a large public offering and will certainly exceed one billion (Egyptian) pounds,” Zaki said.

Rooya has a real estate portfolio of about 9 million square metres, with 6 million of that currently under development.

The board of Pioneers on Sunday approved the company’s offer to buy another real estate company, Cairo for Housing and Development, at a price of 11.80 Egyptian pounds per share.

Source: Reuters