Egypt’s Eastern Co owner picks banks for bourse listing in June

Egypt’s Holding Company for Chemical Industries (CIHC) will name next month an investment bank to help manage Eastern Company’S anticipated offering.

Eastern Company, Egypt’s top cigarette maker and a CIHC subsidiary, intends to increase the percentage of the free trading shares by 4 percent, as part the government’s initial public offering (IPO) programme.

CIHC holds a 55 percent stake in Eastern Company, and the remaining 45 percent stake is distributed over retail and institutional shareholders.

“By early July, the board of the Holding Company for Chemical Industries will hold its general assembly meeting to choose one of the investment banks for Eastern Company’s IPO,” CIHC chairman Emad Eldin Mostafa told Amwal Al Ghad on Monday.