Blog: Egyptian baker Edita Food Industries sees shares jump on listing

Hannah Abdulla | 2 April 2015

Shares in Egyptian bakery firm Edita Food Industrues jumped 16% today after it listed on the Egyptian and London Stock Exchanges.

The opening price was EGP18.5 (US$2.42) per share. The institutional offering was 13.4x oversubscribed and the retail offering was 4.4x oversubscribed. Investors are said to have included "a wide range of blue-chip institutional investors".

Edita chairman and MD Hani Berzi said: "Building Edita from a flicker of an idea into an Egyptian market leader with regional ambitions has been an incredible journey, and in many ways it has just begun. We are honoured to count today not just anchor investors such as Actis and Chipita, who have partially realised their investments with the start of trading today, but also hundreds of domestic and global shareholders who have confidence in our product, our market, our vision and, most importantly, in the team of 5,200 staff who have built a house of iconic Egyptian brands. There is a special trust involved in being a public company, and I look forward to working every day to deliver on it as we develop new value for our fellow shareholders."

There has been a keen interest in Egypt over the last few years, with some analysts pointing to the size of the population, its close geographical links to the wider Middle East market and a gradually settling political scene as just some of the reasons. 

Kellogg recently acquired Egyptian snack maker Bisco Misr, while local private-equity firm Pioneers Holding snapped up Arab Dairy last month after a battle with France's Lactalis. 

Private equity firm Actis, which had paid US$102m for a 30% stake in Edita in June 2013, sold 15% of that stake today but retains shares in the business.

Speaking about the IPO, Dr. Sherif Elkholy, director at Actis and Edita board member, said: "It is fantastic to see Edita embark on the next stage of its development as a publicly-traded company. In addition to achieving great financial results, Edita has strategically strengthened and successfully diversified its brand portfolio. Since we invested, the business has launched its new headquarters and logistics hub, increased production capacity with a major investment in a new factory, and upgraded its ERP system. In addition, the management have brought corporate governance standards up to international levels, and we have been happy to be part of that journey. The strong interest received for the IPO signals significant appetite from both Egyptian and international institutional investors."