1,500 approvals for EGX listings granted in 4 months

CAIRO – 30 May 2017: Over 1,500 approvals for stock issuance of newly-established companies and for expanding the capital of existing companies were granted by the Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority (EFSA) from January to April, EFSA head Sherif Samy said Tuesday.

The approvals are valued at LE 27.4 billion ($1.5 billion) in capital, LE 11.9 billion of which has already been paid, Samy said in an EFSA statement.

Highlighting Egyptian Exchange figures, the market capitalization of listed companies increased 57 percent year-on-year in April, to reach LE 649 billion, Samy said, adding that the EGX’s main index, EGX30, also jumped 60 percent in April.

In the first four months of 2017, the value of transactions reached LE 127 billion, up from LE 88 billion in the same period last year, marking a 44 percent increase.

The total value of transactions of government, companies and housing bonds amounted to LE 3.9 billion in the same period, while net purchases by Arab and foreign buyers were valued at LE 4.8 billion.

The EFSA also issued six new licenses for companies to operate in securities activities, pushing the total number of stock market licenses up to 828.