The Egyptian government is considering the temporary listing of two trading companies affiliated with the Cotton & Textiles Industries Holding Company (CTIHC) on the Egyptian Exchange, as part of its plan to expand and diversify its state IPO programme, Hashem El Sayed, CEO of State-Owned Enterprises Unit, told Zawya in an interview.

Quick Background

The holding company dates to the era of former President Gamal Abdel Nasser, who launched a national strategy to establish companies in key labour-intensive industrial sectors.

These firms were brought under a single entity in 1991 with the creation of the Cotton & Textiles Industries Holding Company (CTIHC). Initially comprising 31 companies.

The group has since been restructured and reduced to nine companies, alongside the establishment of Egyptian Cotton Hub in 2021, bringing the total number of subsidiaries to 10, operating in the manufacturing and commercial trading of cotton, as well as spinning and weaving of textiles.

Among the best known is Misr Spinning and Weaving in Mahalla, commonly known as Ghazl El Mahalla.

Details

In response to a question about the government's plans to add companies for temporary listing on the stock exchange, El-Sayed said in a telephonic interview with Zawya Arabic: “To diversify sectors, we are now considering including companies from the spinning and weaving sector.”

He added that the two firms within the group are being evaluated for temporary listing.

The two companies are Egyptian Cotton Hub, which handles the marketing, sale, and export of products from all subsidiaries of the holding company, and Misr for Trading & Ginning Cotton Co, which specialises in the processing, sale and export of cotton, he said.

Temporary Listings Background

The temporary listing mechanism was introduced by Egypt’s Financial Regulatory Authority in 2022 to facilitate IPOs, requiring companies to begin offering or trading procedures - in the case of direct listing - within six months of listing.

In April 2026, the Egyptian Exchange approved the temporary listing of 12 state-owned companies formerly under the now-dissolved Ministry of Public Business Sector, spanning construction, metals, and chemicals.

The government has said it plans to temporarily list several companies this year, including 20 firms from the former public enterprise portfolio — 12 of which have already been listed—and has also outlined plans to list 10 petroleum sector companies, without specifying a timeline.

El Sayed said the deadline for listing the remaining companies from the group of 20 will be extended until the end of May.

Ghazl El Mahalla Restructuring

Ghazl El Mahalla, one of the largest CTIHC subsidiaries. It owns several factories and is in the city of El Mahalla El Kubra in the Gharbia Governorate. It has faced years of losses, prompting the government to prioritise it in its sector reform programme.

The State-Owned Enterprises Unit, headed by El Sayed, is currently working on splitting the company into two entities: one comprising non-modernised factories that will undergo redevelopment, and another including upgraded facilities. The latter is expected to be considered for a temporary stock exchange listing at a later stage.

El Sayed said the restructuring process is expected to be completed by the end of June, but did not provide a timeline for the potential listing of the modernised entity.

Click here to read the article in Arabic.