The Egyptian Stock Exchange approved on Wednesday a request filed by Banque Du Caire, one of Egypt's largest and oldest public lenders, to offer its shares through an initial public offering (IPO) with a capital of EGP 2.25 billion covering 562.5 million shares to be listed on the bourse.

In a statement on its official website, the stock exchange said the bank’s IPO will be issued in two parts: one worth EGP 1.6 billion and the other worth EGP 650 million, setting the value of a share at EGP 4.

Sources told Al-Ahram newspaper on Saturday that the bank's IPO is expected to be issued in May through banks EFG-Hermes and HSBC, which were selected as consultants for the offering in October.

In March 2016, CBE Governor Tarek Amer announced that Egypt would float parts of two state-owned lenders, United Bank and Banque du Caire, on the Egyptian stock exchange this year.

Banque du Caire, established in 1952, has a capitalisation of EGP 1.6 billion. The bank has around 240 branches and units around the country.

The public lender's offering is its first step in public IPOs. Investment Minister Dalia Khorshid has said that the trilateral committee responsible for Egypt's public IPOs decided to start with offerings in the banking and oil sector.

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