The Financial Supervisory Authority in the Arab Republic of Egypt has agreed to amend the rules for listing companies and government debt instruments on the Egyptian Stock Exchange, according to what Mohamed Farid, head of the authority, announced in a press conference on Tuesday.
These amendments come to allow the registration of government securities and government debt securities directly, as well as temporarily registering companies before completing the procedures, according to Reuters news agency.
The new financial control amendments allow the temporary listing of the shares of Egyptian and foreign companies on the stock exchange lists before registration with the authority, instead of prior registration with the authority.
Also, the amendment of the financial control enables the process of temporarily registering companies and then registering later, before the offering or before trading. Companies are also allowed to register temporarily without fulfilling the minimum requirements for the percentage of shares to be offered, the number of shareholders (or holders of certificates of deposit) and the percentage of free-traded shares (or certificates of deposit).
The amendment to the financial control will also allow the registration and implementation of the offering or the start of trading within six months from the date of registration, instead of one month from the date of registration, according to the head of the authority.
The financial control amendments also included the availability of registration for all securities issued directly by the Ministry of Finance, especially government debt instruments.
Egypt is seeking to attract more companies for the initial offering on the Egyptian Stock Exchange, in light of great competition with the Gulf markets, especially Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
The government had announced years ago a program for government proposals, but only a few implemented it, before it moved to sell shares of its companies to strategic investors, especially Arab sovereign funds.
