. Egypt has raised more than US$650 million by selling 45 percent of the shares of the Bank of Cairo (IPO). This is the largest IPO ever issued on the Egyptian stock market, according to the government.

According to the government, the IPO raised 36.3 billion Egyptian pounds 650.7 million US dollars) and .

More than 6.86 billion shares were sold under the issue.After this transaction, the total valuation of bank} reached about 80.80 billion Egyptian pounds. Egyptian Prime Minister Mustafa Madbuli attended the {{} opening ceremony on the occasion of the start of trading of the bank’s shares.

The event was also attended by senior officials from the banking and capital markets sectors. Prime Minister Madbuli described the listing of the Bank of Cairo as an important achievement of Egypt’s economic reform program. He said that this reflects the government’s policy of expanding private sector participation in the economy and expanding share ownership among individual and institutional investors.

Omar Radwan, chairman of the Egyptian exchange , said the IPO has opened a new chapter in the country’s capital markets.

The Egyptian government has been pursuing economic reform programs aimed at increasing the role of the private sector in the economy and attracting private investment in publicly owned institutions. The IPO of the Bank of Cairo is seen as an important step in this policy.