The Egyptian government has sold a 9.5% holding in fixed-line provider Telecom Egypt for EGP3.747 billion (US$121 million).
Following the announcement, the Ministry of Finance (MoF) confirmed that the government retains a 70.5% stake in Telecom Egypt, although it has opened talks over the sale of a further 0.5% stake to TE employees. CommsUpdate reports that these discussions will run until 25th May.
Regional news outlet Zawya reported that the lion’s share of the 9.5% stake was bought up by domestic investors, although it noted that overseas investors obtained a small amount of the available shares.
The MoF noted in a statement that the stake sale was part of a broader push by the government to diversify the ownership structure of state-owned enterprises so as to increase “the contributions of the private sector in economic activity.”
