EGYPT – Rameda Pharmaceuticals is in the marketing phase of a listing that will value the company in a range of US$214 million to US$286 million on the Egyptian Exchange (EGX).
Analysts strongly believe that Rameda’s IPO could be the largest Egyptian IPO since 2015, revitalizing the country’s lackluster IPO market, which has struggled to recover to pre-revolution levels, despite a healthy pipeline of state and non-state run companies.
Egyptian ECM activity has been slow to pick up after index-provider MSCI cut the North African country’s weighting in May 2015, in the aftermath of the Arab Spring, prompting investors to withdraw funds.
A successful deal would be a positive signal for investors, and good news for the large IMF-backed privatization programme that is yet to begin in earnest.
Amr Helal, Renaissance Capital “What investors are looking for is new sizeable, investible ideas, for new names to come to market, and for existing names to provide more liquidity,” says Amr Helal, CEO North Africa at Renaissance Capital.
Egyptian listed IPOs peaked in 2015 when companies raised US$752 million, though this fell sharply in 2016 to US$214 million.
Egypt’s strong economic growth and successful implementation of an IMF-recommended reform programme have started making the country attractive prospect to investors, though harsh austerity measures have prompted unrest in the country.
So far this year, US$101 million has been raised on the EGX, according to Dealogic data.
Rameda, which has mandated HSBC and Investec as joint global co-ordinators and joint bookrunners, follows digital payments company Fawry, which completed a listing in August.
According to a Reuters report, Rameda plans to float 49% of its shares on the Egyptian stock exchange and is expected to start trading on Dec. 11 2019.
The Cairo based pharmaceutical company revealed in a prospectus published in Egyptian newspapers that it hopes to raise 1.755 billion Egyptian pounds ($109 million) in the share offer, which will be made in two tranches and priced at 4.66 pounds per share.
A banker with the knowledge of the deal also revealed that earlier plans for a dual listing with the London Stock Exchange had been dropped to focus on the EGX.