Etisalat’s Egypt Unit Said To Plan $500 M Cairo IPO

Etisalat Misr, the Egyptian phone company controlled by Emirates Telecommunications Corp. (ETISALAT), is in talks with investment banks about what may be Egypt’s largest initial public offering in almost five years, according to three people with knowledge of the matter.

Etisalat Misr, 66 percent owned by the Abu Dhabi company known as Etisalat, has asked banks to make proposals to manage the share sale. The IPO is planned for Cairo and may raise about $500 million, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information isn’t public.

A spokesman for Etisalat Misr didn’t return e-mails and telephone calls requesting comment.

At $500 million, the sale would be Egypt’s biggest since Citadel Capital SAE raised $605 million in 2009, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Egyptian companies are reviving share sales as they seek to benefit from a 30 percent gain in the country’s benchmark EGX30 Index this year. Edita Food Industries, an Egyptian snacksmaker part-owned by London-based buyout firm Actis LLP, is considering an IPO, Bloomberg News reported in May. Arabian Cement Co. raised $110 million that month from an IPO, the country’s first since the 2011 uprisings.

Etisalat Misr reported revenue of 1.2 billion U.A.E. dirhams ($327 million) in the second quarter, an increase of 5 percent over the same period last year, according to parent company Etisalat’s financial statements. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization was 500 million dirhams.

Etisalat has operations in 19 countries across the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

Source: Bloomberg