The Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA), chaired by Islam Azzam, has launched a training programme designed to prepare state-owned companies provisionally listed on the Egyptian Exchange (EGX) for public offerings. The initiative is the first national programme dedicated to supporting the government’s IPO programme through training and capacity building, delivered by the Financial Services Institute (FSI) and the Egyptian Institute of Directors (EIoD), the FRA’s two training arms.
The launch was attended by Mohamed Farid, Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade; Hashem El Sayed, Assistant to the Prime Minister and Chief Executive Officer of the State Ownership Unit; Omar Radwan, Chairman of the Egyptian Exchange; senior officials from the FRA and EGX; and a number of chairpersons and executives from state-owned companies. The programme’s first training session subsequently commenced at the Financial Services Institute and the Egyptian Institute of Directors.
The programme comprises seven core training modules covering the legislative and regulatory framework governing the capital market, provisional and final listing procedures, financial and accounting readiness, corporate governance and sustainability requirements, disclosure obligations and prospectus preparation, public offering mechanisms, and post-listing compliance requirements. The sessions are delivered by experts from the FRA, the EGX, and FRA-licensed IPO advisers.
The programme targets chairpersons and board members of state-owned companies, chief executive officers, chief financial officers, finance and accounting managers, disclosure and investor relations officers, governance and internal audit officials, and other senior executives responsible for listing and public offering processes.
The initiative aims to strengthen the capabilities of professional teams across participating companies, promote financial literacy, support the completion of listing plans and financial and technical preparations, and develop a pool of national professionals specialising in public offerings.
The training programme is also intended to help companies meet the EGX’s listing and offering requirements while adopting international best practices in corporate governance and disclosure through a comprehensive, simulation-based training programme covering both technical and professional aspects.
For his part, Azzam said the readiness programme reflects the FRA’s integrated role in regulation, supervision and market awareness, with the objective of building more efficient financial markets, particularly the capital market. He noted that the government’s IPO programme will help broaden and deepen the capital market by listing and offering shares in some of the country’s leading state-owned companies across a wide range of productive sectors, expanding investment opportunities and enhancing market attractiveness.
He praised the close coordination with the State Ownership Unit, led by Hashem El Sayed, and the joint efforts to transfer international expertise and best practices to the targeted companies, enabling them to complete listing and offering requirements more efficiently and in line with the latest regulatory frameworks while ensuring continued compliance after listing.
Azzam added that the programme will not be limited to the 20 companies that have secured provisional listing through the State Ownership Unit, but will also be extended to other state-owned companies targeted for future offerings across the petroleum, mining, pharmaceuticals, tourism, construction, education and manufacturing sectors.
The first training cycle, which began on Sunday and will run for seven intensive training days, includes executive, financial and management personnel from 14 of the companies currently provisionally listed on the Egyptian Exchange. Additional participants from the targeted companies will join subsequent training cycles.
