Administrative Capital for Urban Development to go public in H1 2024

Egypt’s Administrative Capital for Urban Development’s (ACUD) public offering on the Egyptian stock exchange is scheduled to be completed within the first half of 2024, according to chairman Khaled Abbas in an interview yesterday.

According to Abbas, “We might not be able to offer a portion of the shares before the end of the year. We are talking about 5 percent to 10 percent of the company,” adding “But I think that the timing of the offering might be delayed until the first or second quarter of the coming year.”

A joint venture between the military and the Housing Ministry, the ACUD manages the development of the New Administrative Capital (NAC) and is currently owned by the military (51 percent), and 49 percent is held by the New Urban Communities Authority.

“The stock exchange has certain requirements as a company, concerning the financial statements, the structure of the board of directors, all the procedures so that the company might list. We have one of the biggest accountants going over the company's budget,” Abbas told Asharq.

President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi previously announced the company’s IPO back in 2021 and was noted as potentially the country’s largest initial public offering in its history. At the time, ACUD head, Ahmed Zaki Abdeen, revealed that planning for its offering had begun. In 2022, the company appointed CI Capital to advise on the offering.

In 2022, Abdeen stated that the company’s IPO on the EGX could possibly be joined with an international IPO but did not mention a specific exchange.

Details on ACUD’s valuation have not been disclosed, with El-Sisi noting that the company held around LE 4 trillion worth of assets and liquid assets worth LE 100 billion during his 2021 announcement.

Established in 2016, ACUD has a total capital of LE 204 billion ($6.6 billion).

ACUD is expected to reach agreements with Gulf investors to develop projects in the new capital before the end of the year, Abbas added in an interview with Asharq Business.

The ACUD head also explained that the company has received bids from investors to develop industrial projects, among them are 3 major local industrial developers, in the 2nd phase of NAC.