Egypt decided to postpone the sale of a minority stake in state-owned Banque du Caire through an initial public offering that was scheduled to start in mid-April due to the spread of the Corona virus. p>


According to Reuters, Tariq Fayed, the bank’s chairman, had said in March that the stake sale plan, amounting to about $ 500 million, would remain in place if investors remained interested despite the virus.


Fayed told Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper in an interview published on Sunday that plans to offer a share of the bank on the Egyptian Stock Exchange are currently deferred due to the events of the outbreak of the Corona virus, both globally and locally, and the impact of stock exchanges, whether global or local.


He did not give further details.


Offering a stake in Banque du Caire will be the largest sale of a state asset since 2006.


The bank is part of a new privatization program that includes a long list of companies announced three years ago but has faced repeated delays.