49 state-owned companies to be privatized
The Privatization Committee decided yesterday under Prime Minister Atef Ebeid to offer 49 companies for privatization.
The Public Business Sector Ministry will announce these companies for privatization in order to receive the offers of investors so that the committee may become aware of the indexes and market value and necessary guarantees to maintain the performance of these companies and protect the rights of their employees.
The committee agreed to offer some of these companies to an anchor investor and others under the shares system in accordance with the nature of their activity.
The committee agreed to re-offer for sale five home trade companies (Omar Effendi, Benzion, Sednaoui, Hannaux and the Egyptian Products Sale Company) after investors showed reluctance to buy because of an exaggeration in the prices and the effect of a rise in the value of land.
In making the offer, the committee will take in consideration that the land devoted to these companies remain owned by the State.
The investor will bear an annual price for the use of this land. Sale will be on the basis of 90 per cent of the value of the shares of the companies to strategic investors. Ten percent will be set aside for the union of employees if they wish to buy.
Minister of Information Safwat A1-Sherif said the committee reviewed a report on dealings on the Stock Exchange in shares registered in the Cairo and Alexandria Stock Exchanges during the Year 2000.
The report put at 32.8 billion pounds the value of dealings in shares registered in 1999 and 41.7 billion pounds of shares registered in 2000, at a daily average of 131.9 billion pounds of dealings in shares registered in 1999 and 168.3 billion pounds of dealings in shares registered in 2000.
Al-Sherif said that the number of shares dealt with in 1999 amounted to 841 million shares compared to 951.5 million shares in 2000.
The number of dealings in registered shares amounted to 892,291 in 1999 and 1,676,261 in 2000.
The Minister said that the market value of shares registered in the Stock Exchange in 1999 amounted to 112.3 billion pounds compared to 119.7 billion pounds in 2000, a growth of 6.6 percent.
The net flow of dealings of foreigners, sale and purchase, in 1999 amounted to 3.2 billion pounds in 1999 and 4.1 billion pounds in 2000, an increase of about 28 percent.
The committee decided to keep all branches of the state-owned super markets in popular quarters and not to offer them for sale under the shares principle in order to ensure that goods reach consumers.
The committee decided to keep two wholesale companies (The General Company for Wholesale Trade in Food Commodities and the Egyptian Company for Wholesale Trade in Food Commodities).
A1-Sherif said that Prime Minister Atef Ebeid stressed during discussions that Egypt welcomed international investment in the field of retail and wholesale trade, and provides facilities in these two spheres.
He stressed that the government will, at the central level, provide all facilities to companies which invest in the field of retail and wholesale trade to open branches all over the country in the light of feasibility studies in addition to coordination and assistance to lay down a formula which realizes cooperation between national companies and investment companies, which are active at present or in the future, in this field.
The Investment Authority has been instructed to provide premises for all authorities which deal with investors at the headquarters of the Authority in order to facilitate matters for investors after they receive a license from the Authority to deal with all authorities inside the building of the Investment Authority away from central and local government offices.