Shares in Orascom Construction, the Egyptian contracting firm, on Monday rose by 2.9% during its first day of trading on the NASDAQ Dubai bourse.
The company, which is majorly owned by the Sawiris family, is predicted to launch its dual listing on Cairo’s stock exchange on March 10 or March 11, following its demerger from its Amsterdam-listed parent OCI.
According to Reuters, Orascom has issued 12.98 million new shares in Egypt as part of its market debut. This represents 11% of its share capital, in an offer that was 5.1 times subscribed.
Orascom also commented on a joint venture with Abu Dhabi’s state-owned International Petroleum Investment Co. (IPIC) to build a 3,000-4,000 megawatt power plant on Egypt’s Red Sea coast.
The total budget of the project is $5 billion and the first phase will cost $3 billion, according to the firm. It is to provide between 1,800 and 2,000 megawatts, according to a statement by Osama Bishai, Orascom Construction’s chief executive.
He said the first phase would likely take 30-38 months to build, even though construction could start prior to finalising financing. He claimed that if government approval is granted, the second phase of the IPIC project could start before the first is complete.
“We are targeting to achieve financial closure, if not the end of this year, then by the first quarter of next year. These transactions take at least 12-15 months. With this type of transaction you’re looking at somewhere like 80% debt and 20% equity,” Bishai added.
Orascom’s customer order backlog was $5.6 billion as of Sept. 30, of which about 43% was from the US, with the reminder mostly split between Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
The company has since accumulated nearly $1 billion of additional orders, Bishai revealed.