Misr Life Insurance seen selling 15-30% stake in Cairo bourse

Egypt’s state-owned Misr Insurance Holding is expected to hold next year an initial public offering for a stake of 15-30 percent of its life unit Misr Life.

Although no final decision on the amount of the anticipated share sale has been taken, the company is expected to complete the assessment process soon, Misr Life’s chief executive Ahmed Abdel Aziz said.

Misr Insurance Holding’s general assembly voted late May to list its life and non-life insurance units Misr Insurance Company and Misr Life Insurance Company on Cairo stock exchange.

Listing Misr Insurance and Misr Life comes as part of the government programme to IPO list of state enterprises in coming years to boost public finances and draw more investors to the Cairo bourse.

The list includes some companies already traded on the exchange and others that will hold an initial public offering.

The last time state-owned companies were listed on the exchange was in 2005 when shares of Telecom Egypt, the state’s landline monopoly, and oil companies Sidi Kerir Petrochemicals and AMOC were floated.