Banque du Caire draws $500M foreign inflows in landmark IPO
Banque du Caire drew more than half a billion dollars in foreign investment in what marked the largest initial public offering in the history of the Egyptian capital market, valuing the state lender at roughly 80.8 billion Egyptian pounds (about $1.46 billion), according to an Egyptian Exchange statement on Monday.
The public listing came after repeated delays sparked by low bids from institutional investors, a standoff that pushed decision-makers to offer a portion of the shares to retail investors alongside a private placement completed over the past month.
Authorities initially targeted the sale of 4.575 billion shares, or 30% of the bank’s capital, earmarking 95% of that tranche for private institutional placement and leaving the remaining 5% for the public retail offering. The lender later announced that the Cabinet approved expanding the stake on offer to 45% of its total capital.
Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly and Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) Governor Hassan Abdalla attended a trading bell-ringing ceremony on Monday to mark the commencement of trading in the bank’s shares on the main exchange under the banking sector.
Madbouly cast the transaction as a watershed moment on the path of economic reform and the largest IPO ever recorded on Egypt’s stock exchange, framed within the state ownership policy document designed to boost private sector participation and broaden ownership among citizens and institutional investors.
Banque du Caire ranks as Egypt’s third-largest state-owned bank. Roughly two years ago, the CBE sold a stake in the United Bank as part of official pushes to accelerate the state privatization drive.
Abdalla maintained that the offering met strong demand from multilateral and development lenders, specifically naming the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the International Finance Corporation, alongside individual retail buyers.
Exchange head Omar Radwan stated that authorities completed the largest public offering in the history of the Egyptian Exchange with a total value exceeding 36.37 billion pounds ($655.43 million).
Radwan noted that retail demand oversubscribed the public tranche by more than 27 times, drawing buy orders for over 9.28 billion shares and securing over half a billion dollars wired from abroad.
Despite the official fanfare, Banque du Caire shares recorded anemic movement during their trading debut, opening at 5.3 pounds and closing at 5.31 pounds, an advance of just 0.19% according to exchange data.