Banque du Caire plans to list 30 per cent of its issued capital on the Egyptian Exchange (EGX), with its current shareholder Banque Misr selling about 4.575 billion existing shares. The bank set out the plan in a statement on Sunday 11 October.
The offering is expected in late October or early November, with trading due to begin in November, subject to regulatory approvals. It will be split into two tranches. The first is a private placement for qualified investors in Egypt and selected international markets, including eligible US institutional investors and non-US investors under Regulation S of the US Securities Act of 1933. The second is a public offering for retail investors in Egypt. Before the books open, the bank still needs the Financial Regulatory Authority to approve its prospectus and the registration of its shares, as well as approval from the EGX.
CI Capital Investment Banking is lead manager and international coordinator, and EFG Hermes Investment Banking is offering manager and international coordinator. Baker McKenzie is advising on US and English law, while Helmy, Hamza & Partners, a member of Baker McKenzie International, is handling Egyptian law. Hussein Abaza, the bank’s managing director and chief executive, described the listing as a milestone in a history stretching back more than 70 years and said the lender was ready to take on new shareholders as a public company.
Banque du Caire runs retail and corporate banking, lending to small and medium-sized enterprises, and microfinance. Its strategy rests on healthy margins, disciplined risk and portfolio management, and a solid balance sheet. The bank is one of several state-owned entities in the government’s IPO programme, a divestment drive linked to Egypt’s $8 billion loan programme with the International Monetary Fund, which ends by mid-December 2026. In March the government said it was reviewing state-owned and government-backed companies and had examined a valuation study of the bank as part of that programme, which is meant to widen the role of the private sector.
The sale lands in a market that has grown in size and turnover. In September, EGX chairman Omar Radwan said market capitalisation had recently passed EGP 4.3 trillion and that average daily trading had reached nearly EGP 10 billion, as the exchange gets ready for more government-backed listings. The regulatory sign-offs from the Financial Regulatory Authority and the EGX are the next steps that will decide whether the offering keeps to its late-October or early-November window.
