Egypt’s first fintech unicorn plans to sell 20% of local business in Cairo stock market debut

The proposed offering comprises 320 million shares. MNT-Halan expects it to take place this month, subject to regulatory approval and market conditions.

The move gives investors a potential opportunity to buy into one of Egypt’s largest technology-led financial businesses. It also offers a test of whether the country’s stock market can attract substantial interest in an African fintech.

MNT-Halan began in Egypt and has since expanded into Turkey, Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates. Its services include lending, payments and other financial products for individuals and businesses.

The company said its Egyptian operation had about 1.9 million active customers and a gross loan book of EGP 46.7 billion at the end of June.

It said it had disbursed EGP 178 billion in loans since inception, which it calculated at about $6.1 billion using historical exchange rates. That dollar figure should not be read as a conversion at today’s rate.

Why this listing is closely watched

The Egyptian Exchange approved a temporary listing⁠ for MNT Tech Holding for Financial Investments on September 14. It recorded 1.6 billion issued shares, but said trading cannot begin during the temporary listing period without approval from the financial regulator. The company must meet the requirements for a final listing and carry out its offering.

That earlier approval was a step toward an IPO, not the start of share trading. The October announcement supplies the proposed size of the offer: 320 million of the 1.6 billion shares.

The wider MNT-Halan group said in June that a funding round had valued it at $1.4 billion. That provides background on the company’s growth, but it is not an announced valuation for the Egyptian entity’s IPO. The offer price will be needed to establish what public investors are being asked to pay.