The Sovereign Fund of Egypt (TSFE) has started receiving bids from competitors to acquire Wataniya Petroleum which is owned by the National Service Projects organization (NSPO), sources told Daily News Egypt.
The sources added that receiving the offers came after the fund received inquiries from companies interested in acquiring a share in the company, which included the completion of all licenscs for some of the company’s petrol stations, and the possibility of acquiring all of the company’s shares, in addition to the status of stations of an important nature for government agencies.
The fund showed strong flexibility in the process of issuing shares, as it replied that there is no maximum limit for selling shares in the company.
The sources added that Gulf was interested, especially the Emiratis, showed interest, including ADNOC, which is affiliated with Abu Dhabi Investment Holding, the sovereign arm of the UAE, the Emirati company ENOC, and the Abu Dhabi National Energy Company.
The sources pointed out that there was a promotional tour of the assets carried out by the Sovereign Fund of Egypt with a number of financial and legal advisors during the past week to promote the Egyptian assets.
Egypt announced its intention to offer 32 government companies within the government offering program. The National Petroleum Products Company and Safi Water Bottling Company came within the program, in addition to 3 banks and a number of oil, petroleum and insurance companies, covering 18 different economic sectors.
The Egyptian government expects to collect $2bn from the proceeds of the program before the end of next June, according to Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly.
The government seeks to enhance the participation of the private sector in total investments to reach 65%, by expanding the ownership base of state-owned companies through the stock market as one of its priorities during the next stage.
Wataniya, which was established in 1993, owns about 255 service stations and fuel for cars, and has 20 stations under construction, and 25 stations in the planning stage, according to the website of the National Service Projects Agency.