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Banque Misr Prepares to Sell its Shares in 13 Companies

The new branch of the Bank of Egypt in the New Administrative Capital. (The bank’s website)
The new branch of the Bank of Egypt in the New Administrative Capital. (The bank’s website)
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Banque Misr Prepares to Sell its Shares in 13 Companies

The new branch of the Bank of Egypt in the New Administrative Capital. (The bank’s website)
The new branch of the Bank of Egypt in the New Administrative Capital. (The bank’s website)

Egypt's Banque Misr is preparing a file to exit its investments in some companies as part of a government program to reduce state ownership in the local economy.

The deals will be announced after coordination with the committee for public procurement, according to an official source who refused to be named.

The source told the Arab World News Agency that the bank is preparing to sell its shares in 13 out of 176 companies in its portfolio, adding that the companies subject to exit are profitable.

The 13 companies range between the industrial, petrochemical, and public services sectors, including medical insurance, transportation, navigation, tourism, agriculture, and food industries.

The source did not specify a timeframe for the process, noting that among the companies that will be exited include Egyptian Ethylene and Derivatives Company (Ethydco) and Alexandria Specialty Petroleum Products Company, 10 and 10.4 percent of which are owned by the bank respectively.

Last September, Sidi Kerir Petrochemicals (Sidpec) postponed a deal to acquire Ethydco fully.

The Egyptian government had announced a program to exit 32 companies and expand private sector ownership within the framework of an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to obtain a loan worth $3 billion.

The government is preparing for a scheduled review from the IMF during the first quarter of 2024 to disburse a second tranche of the loan, a review that has been postponed since last March.

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United States Imports Eggs from Korea, Türkiye to Help Ease Prices

Carton of eggs are seen in a box during a free eggs give away in New York City, on March 21, 2025. (Getty Images/AFP)
Carton of eggs are seen in a box during a free eggs give away in New York City, on March 21, 2025. (Getty Images/AFP)
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United States Imports Eggs from Korea, Türkiye to Help Ease Prices

Carton of eggs are seen in a box during a free eggs give away in New York City, on March 21, 2025. (Getty Images/AFP)
Carton of eggs are seen in a box during a free eggs give away in New York City, on March 21, 2025. (Getty Images/AFP)

The United States is importing Turkish and South Korean eggs to ease an avian flu-fueled supply crunch that has pushed up prices across the country, Donald Trump’s agriculture secretary confirmed Friday.

Brooke Rollins told reporters in Washington that imports from Türkiye and South Korea had already begun and that the White House was also in talks with other countries about temporarily importing their eggs.

“We are talking in the hundreds of millions of eggs for the short term,” she added.

The cost of eggs has skyrocketed due to multiple bird flu outbreaks in the United States, forcing farmers to cull at least 30 million birds and sharply constraining supply.

On the political battlefield, egg prices became an unlikely rallying point for Trump on the campaign trail as he sought to capitalize on voters’ frustrations with the rising cost of essential items during his predecessor Joe Biden’s presidency.

After returning to office in January, Trump tasked Rollins with the job of boosting the supply of eggs, and bringing down prices.

In the weeks since, producers in several countries have reported American interest in their produce, with the Polish and Lithuanian poultry associations telling AFP that they had been approached by US diplomatic staff on the hunt for fresh eggs.

“There is a shortage of eggs in many countries,” Katarzyna Gawronska, director of the Poland’s National Chamber of Poultry and Feed Producers, said recently. “The key question would be what financial conditions would be offered by the Americans.”

Speaking to reporters on Friday, Rollins said that imports of eggs would be time-limited, and would stop once US poultry farmers were able to ramp up supply.

“When our chicken populations are repopulated and we’ve got a full egg laying industry going again, hopefully in a couple of months, we then shift back to our internal egg layers and moving those eggs out onto the shelf,” she said.