Trading on Egypt’s small and medium-size enterprises (SME) stock exchange Nilex will start on 3 June, with Al-Bader Plastic offering 23 per cent of its shares, equivalent to capital of £E390,523 ($69,000).

“We plan a public offering of 23 per cent of the company’s shares,” said Al-Bader Plastic’s chairman Tamer Badr el-Din on 25 May.  

The Alexandria-based plastics manufacturing company has 1.7 million shares, each with a face value of £E1 ($0.18), equivalent to a capital of around $300,000.

The Nilex was set up in 2007 to allow SMEs to raise funds outside bank loans. It currently has ten listed companies, but trading has not started because the firms have not yet launched initial public offerings (IPOs) or private placements.

Under the Nilex’s listing requirements, companies must sell 10 per cent of their shares to the public.  

According to a statement posted on the country’s main stock exchange, the Egyptian Exchange (EGX), there will be no share movement limits up or down on the Nilex’s first trading day. On subsequent days, there will be a 20 per cent limit.

In March this year, Mohamed Omran, the Deputy Chairman of the Nilex, said the exchange was looking at several ways to boost listing and trading, including raising the minimum capital requirement for companies from £E25m to £E100m. The issued capital for the companies currently listed on the Nilex ranges between £E1m and £E20m.

Omran said that any firm that does not meet the trading requirements within a year of listing will be delisted.