Beyond the anticipated military company IPOs

The first-ever initial public offerings (IPOs) of Egyptian military companies may not mean that the government is ready to cede control over their assets, says Yezid Sayigh, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Middle East Center.

“Sisi’s overall strategy of monetizing state assets while retaining ownership and control of them means that the IPOs may be a mechanism for attracting private capital without allowing meaningful control or governance by private investors,” says Sayigh, a Beirut-based expert on the Egyptian armed forces’ economic role, referring to previous offerings of minority stakes in government-owned companies.