Responding to recent media reports, Etisalat said today it has not decided whether to list its Egyptian mobile operator Etisalat Misr on the local bourse.
In a notice to the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, the UAE group said the matter is still under…
Responding to recent media reports, Etisalat said today it has not decided whether to list its Egyptian mobile operator Etisalat Misr on the local bourse.
In a notice to the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, the UAE group said the matter is still under review by Etisalat Misr’s board and also subject to the approval of the company’s shareholders, including Etisalat.
Earlier this week, a Bloomberg report suggested Etisalat was looking to raise about US$500m from the IPO of its Egyptian operations.
Citing three people familiar with the situation, the newswire said the company had asked several banks to send their proposals to manage the offering.
EFG-Hermes has already been appointed to work on the sale, according to a separate earlier report. Etisalat did not respond to a request for comment.
Earlier this year, the country’s financial regulator introduced new rules to encourage trading on the bourse, which has not seen a major IPO since 2010 against the backdrop of political instability.
The Etisalat Misr listing would be one of the largest on the Egyptian bourse in several years and may open the door to a few more IPOs in other sectors, analysts were quoted as saying.
Etisalat competes with Vodafone and Orange’s Mobinil in Egypt. Landline monopoly Telecom Egypt, which has a 45% stake in Vodafone, recently received a licence to provide mobile services too.
