The Egyptian Stock Exchange (EGX) started on Thursday trading on the shares of Cleopatra Hospitals Company under the stock symbol CLHO.CA at EGP 9 a share.

In a press release, the bourse said the move crowns a successful Initial Public Offering (IPO) operation of 40 million shares of the company, including 34 million shares for private offering segment and six million shares for public offering segment.

The listing of the company marks the second IPO of 2016 on the Egyptian Exchange. 

Head of the bourse Mohamed Omran said the EGX offerings in the Egyptian market reflect the market's capability to attract strong and promising companies as well as to assert the bourse's role in supporting Egypt's economy. 

Cleopatra is 99 percent owned by Care Healthcare Limited, which is beneficially owned by UAE-based private equity firm Abraaj’s North Africa Hospital Holdings, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Deutsche Investitions- und Entwickungsgesellschaft mbH (DEG), and the Société de Promotion et de Participation pour la Coopération Economique SA (Proparco).

The group, which holds majority stakes in four multi-specialty hospitals in the Greater Cairo area, reported operating revenues of EGP 741 million in 2015, while gross profit stood at EGP 234 million, EBITDA at EGP 183 million and net profit for the year at EGP 52 million on an unaudited, pro-forma basis.