Egyptian fertiliser business MOPCO seeks Cairo listing

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's state-owned Misr Fertilizers Production Company (MOPCO) has applied for a listing on the Cairo stock exchange with capital of 2.3 billion Egyptian pounds ($302 million), a bourse statement said on Thursday. The listing is part of a flurry of initial public offerings, mergers and rights issues that have boosted activity on the EGX, which had struggled to win investor confidence during four years of political and economic turmoil since the Arab Spring uprising. Egyptian foodmaker Edita will put up shares in a secondary offering next month. Pioneers Holding bought cheese maker Arab Dairy this month, while Kellogg won a battle in January for a controlling stake in biscuit maker Bisco Misr. The Cairo bourse is up 6.6 percent this year, second only to Saudi Arabia among major Middle East markets. Egypt held a conference last weekend with the aim of putting it back on foreign investors' radar by projecting an image of stability despite an Islamist insurgency in northern Sinai and militant attacks across the country. Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb said that investment deals worth a total of $36 billion were signed at the summit in the Red Sea resort town of Sharm El Sheikh. This would mean that, including financed projects, loans and Gulf pledges of aid and investment, Egypt secured a total of $72.5 billion during the conference. ($1 = 7.6250 Egyptian pounds)