Egypt’s Eastern Company listed 4.5% of shares on stock market

Member of parliament Haitham al-Hariri submitted March 12 a briefing request to Minister of Public Business Hisham Tawfik on his Feb. 28 listing of 4.5% of Egypt’s state-owned Eastern Company on the Egyptian Exchange. Tawfik has yet to respond.

The Eastern Company is Egypt’s top tobacco-maker and the second-largest source of revenue for the state budget after the Suez Canal Company. The company’s revenues are estimated at 55 billion Egyptian pounds ($3.17 billion) for fiscal year 2019.

The company’s shares were listed in a private offering after the end of the trading session on the stock market at a value of 1.721 billion pounds ($99 million). The listing targeted top investors, mainly Emirati investor Mohammad al-Ghobar, in addition to Saudi businessmen who bought 25% of the listing worth 400 million pounds ($23 million).