Egypt sells its stake in Telecom Egypt
To raise money to finance some of its debt obligations, the Egyptian government has successfully sold a 9.5% stake in state-controlled Telecom Egypt, generating 3.75 billion Egyptian pounds ($121.6 million) in revenue.
Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly promised to sell $2 billion worth of assets by the end of June. This is part of an agreement with the International Monetary Fund to reduce the government's economic role and encourage private sector growth.
The government sold 162.2 million shares of Telecom Egypt at a price of 23.11 pounds per share. The sale was oversubscribed, meaning more people wanted to buy shares than there were shares available. This shows that there is a lot of investor interest in Telecom Egypt.
Following this two-part sale, the government's stake in Telecom Egypt will decrease from 80% to 70%, with the remaining 20% being publicly traded on the Egyptian Exchange.
Earlier reports suggested that Egypt was considering offers from the Qatar Investment Authority and Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund to acquire a portion of Telecom Egypt's stake in Vodafone Egypt.
Telecom Egypt currently owns a 45% stake in Vodafone Egypt, the largest mobile network operator in the country, boasting a 42% market share. The remaining 55% is owned by Vodacom Group, a subsidiary of London-listed Vodafone.
