Smart Villages Co. Deters IPO Plans amid Egypt’s New Capital Gain Tax

In response to the newly proposed government tax on capital gains, Egypt’s Smart Villages Co. decided to delay IPO plans for some of its shares in local stock market.

Egypt’s Smart Villages Co. deterred to make its final decision on launch of an initial public offering for some of its shares in the Egyptian Exchange (EGX). This comes after the Egyptian government announced a capital gains tax on stock market profits, seeking to find additional sources of revenue after more than three years of economic and political turmoil since a popular uprising ousted Hosni Mubarak in 2011.
Egypt’s Finance Minister Hany Dimian had initially set a tax-free limit of 10,000 Egyptian pounds ($1,400) on annual cash dividend payments for individuals resident in Egypt.
President is expected to endorse the draft law of the capital gains tax in the coming hours.
Smart Villages Development and Management Company (SVC) – one of the major successful Egyptian private public partnership (PPP) – was aiming for listing some of its shares on the EGX, to go for financing its future expansion schemes.