Egypt has pushed back the initial public offering (IPO) of Engineering For The Petroleum & Process Industries (Enppi) until the first quarter of 2018, the Minister of Investment and International Cooperation, Sahar Nasr, told Reuters.

It was originally projected for sometime this year.

This IPO will be the first public offering of shares for an Egyptian state-owned company in nearly 12 years, Amwal Al Ghad reports.

The valuation of the 24% of Enppi’s shares to be sold during the IPO is estimated to range between $213 million and $267 million, according to Al Mal News.

In January, former Minister of Investments and International Cooperation, Dalia Khorshed, announced that an IPO of Enppi would be among the first IPOs of state-owned firms launched on the Egyptian Stock Exchange (EGX).

This partial privatization will, it is anticipated, raise private funds for investment in the industry.