(Bloomberg) -- Egypt plans to offer stakes in at least 10 state-held companies next year, including four affiliated with the military, pressing forward with an International Monetary Fund-backed drive to reduce the government’s role in the economy.
The firms, which include AlexBank and Banque du Caire, will either be offered to strategic investors or on the local stock market, Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said Wednesday in a televised press conference.
The military-linked firms were identified as mineral-water bottler Safi, fuel distributor Wataniya, Silo Food, and Chill Out, a network of gas-station convenience stores.
Safi and Wataniya may be listed on the Egyptian exchange by the middle of 2025, Madbouly said. He didn’t give further details, nor say how much the state hopes to raise from the sales.
The announcement signals fresh impetus in Egypt’s initiative to divest from more than two-dozen assets and boost government finances. Authorities last week completed the sale of 30% of a state-owned bank, the North African nation’s first major privatization since devaluing its pound in March to tackle a foreign-currency crisis and secure an expanded $8 billion IMF loan program.
The IMF has long urged authorities to curb the involvement of the state — including the military — in the economy, and give the private sector more opportunity to compete.
President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi first floated the idea of listing military-linked companies in October 2019. Authorities a year later announced they were seeking buyers for Safi and Wataniya, though progress has been sluggish.
Egypt’s recent sale of part of United Bank, the goal of authorities for years, raised more than $90 million. The lender closed 0.2% higher on Egypt’s bourse on Wednesday, having made its debut the day before.
Other companies or assets to be offered include CID Pharma, Misr Pharma, Alamal Alsharif Plastics and the Gabal El-Zeit 580-megawatt wind farm, Madbouly said.
--With assistance from Souhail Karam and Omar Tamo.
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