Eastern Co.’s offering on EGX amounts to LE 1.72B

CAIRO – 6 March 2019: Eastern Company’s public and private offerings on the Egyptian Exchange (EGX) were completed Wednesday with a total value of LE1.72 billion, according to EGX data.

EGX clarified in a filing that the public offering registered LE76.06 million through 5.06 million shares, and the private offering amounted to LE 1.6 billion through 96.18 million shares.

The stock market announced Tuesday that purchase requests registered at OPR market regarding Eastern Co. public offering hit 21.657 million shares, and were oversubscribed by 4.28 times.

Minister of Public Enterprise Hesham Tawfik announced earlier that the private offering of the cigarette company was oversubscribed by 1.8 times at a price of LE 17 which exceeds the company’s share price on Thursday, Feb. 28, by 3 percent.

The flotation of the new stake of Eastern Company on the Egyptian Exchange (EGX) in March is considered the first to be offered in the government’s initial public offering program.

The floated stake is put up to about 4.5 percent of the company's shares in the stock market.

Eastern Co.'s public offering starts Sunday

CAIRO - 3 March 2019: Eastern Company's public offering will start Sunday, March 3, and will end on Tuesday, March 5, 2019, according to Minister of Public Enterprise Hesham Tawfik. The private offering of the cigarette company was oversubscribed by 1.8 times at a price of LE 17 which exceeds the company's share price on Thursday, Feb.

In 2018, Egypt delayed listing shares of state-owned companies on the Egyptian Exchange, such as the 4.5 percent stake of Eastern Company slated for October. The government attributed the delay to volatility in the global market, noting that if the shares had been floated, they would have failed to be covered at proper valuation.

In 2016, Egypt announced the launch of the government’s IPO program offering shares over three to five years in several state-owned companies in fields such as petroleum, services, chemicals and real estate.

As part of the economic reform program, the government targets offering 15-30 percent of stakes in state-owned companies on the stock exchange (EGX) to increase funding to Egyptian companies, maximize the benefit from state assets, and attract local and foreign capital flows to Egypt.

Eastern Co. is a public company listed on EGX since September 1995. It operates within the food, beverage and tobacco sector focusing on tobacco. It was established in July 1920.