EBRD looks to boost equity investments in Egypt

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) expects to keep investments in Egypt at over 1 billion euros this year, boosting its equity portfolio through a delayed privatisation programme, its regional director said.

The bank intends to participate in an expected share offering for state-run Alexandria Container and Cargo Handling Company, among the first of dozens of state-run companies planning to sell stakes, Janet Heckman, managing director for the southern and eastern Mediterranean, said in an interview on Wednesday.

It also hopes to help finance a monorail project that will link Cairo to a new capital being built in the desert, and for which a consortium led by Bombardier has been identified as the preferred bidder, she said.