CAIRO: Palm Hills, Egypt’s second-largest listed real estate developer, plans to issue new shares worth 1.65bn Egyptian pounds ($230m) to raise its capital and fund growth.
The company said in a statement on the Cairo bourse website that it had called a shareholder meeting on January 12 to approve the plan, which aims to increase its capital from around 2.7bn to about 4.35bn pounds. Palm Hills plans to issue 824m shares at a nominal value of 2 pounds each, it said.
Palm Hills co-chief executive said in December, the company would begin investing in commercial properties in 2015 and expand its residential operations to meet higher demand as the economy begins to recover from four years of turmoil.
However, business activity in Egypt expanded at its fastest rate in three months in December, a survey showed, with rising output and export demand bolstering a fragile economic recovery.
The HSBC Egypt Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) for the non-oil private sector rose to 51.4 points in December, from 50.7 points the previous month, reaching its highest level since registering a near-record 52.4 points in September.
Readings above 50 indicate an expansion in activity while those below 50 point to a contraction.
“Egypt is yet to regain momentum but a fifth consecutive score above 50.0 reinforces our view that the economy continues to stabilise,” Simon Williams, chief economist for the Middle East at HSBC, said. “We look for a pick-up in growth in 2015, albeit off a low base.” Reuters
