EXCLUSIVE: Beltone says to launch Egypt’s second ETF this year

Egypt’s Beltone Financial Holding (BTFH.CA) is planning to launch the country’s second exchange-traded fund (ETF) within 2016, portfolio manager Alyaa Gomaa told Amwal Al Ghad Sunday.

Gomaa further said the new fund would be with an initial capital of around 5 million Egyptian pounds (US$638 million), to be doubled in the coming period.

In mid January 2015, Beltone launched Egypt’s first ETF namely, XT-Misr that mirrors the performance of the country’s EGX 30 stock index, the investors’ yardstick for the Egyptian stock Exchange (EGX). Gomaa said XT-Misr’s capital currently ranges between 20 and 30 million pounds.

XT-MISR is an open-ended fund investing in a basket of securities mimicking the performance of the CASE 30 Index. The CASE 30 Index includes the top 30 traded companies in terms of liquidity and activity.

“XT-MISR is a first for the Arab region; a simple, easy ‘no frills’ means of spreading exposure in a diverse portfolio.” Beltone Financial’s Chairman, Aladdin Saba said in an earlier statement during the launch of the fund.

Saba said he believed the ETF, as a diversified, low-cost vehicle, would appeal to a wide range of domestic and international investors to Egypt’s stock market.

Beltone Financial was the first company to be granted the country’s first licence for ETFs.

Last November, shareholders in Beltone Financial agreed to sell 97.3 percent of shares in the financial services company to Egyptian tycoon Naguib Sawiris’ Orascom Telecom Media and Technology and investment bank Act Financial.