Coffee With: Ahmed Khalil (LinkedIn), CEO of Raya Holding. EnterpriseAM sat down with Khalil to learn more about his company’s bid to snap up up to 90% of subsidiary Raya Customer Experience (Raya CX or RCX) and what we can expect from Raya in the years to come.

CONTEXT- Raya Holding’s board yesterday greenlit plans to submit a mandatory tender offer for up to 90% of RCX, according to an EGX disclosure (pdf). Raya Holding is offering to purchase 184.6 mn shares at a preliminary price range of EGP 6.87-7.50 per share, valuing RCX between EGP 1.41 bn and EGP 1.54 bn.

Market reax: Following the news, Raya CX’s share price rose 2.79% to EGP 7.01 by the end of trading yesterday.

EnterpriseAM: What’s driving your offer to raise your stake in Raya CX to 90%? Do you plan to delist the company?

Ahmed Khalil: Quite the opposite, we’re looking to increase our stake to 90% so that the company remains listed on the EGX, which we believe will ultimately benefit the business. We currently own 61.7% of Raya CX, in addition to around 9% held in treasury and employee shares, with the remaining 29% in freefloat.

In our view, the company is undervalued, and we believe we can only unlock its full potential — and restructure it properly — by increasing our stake. At the same time, the offer presents a good opportunity for minority shareholders seeking liquidity to exit at a fair value.

E: How do you plan to finance the acquisition?

AK: The transaction will be fully self-financed through the parent company.

E: You’re also working to exit Ostool — are these transactions part of a broader strategy to reshape the holding company’s portfolio?

AK: To grow in logistics, you need horizontal and vertical integration, which requires significant investment. We see the sector heading toward consolidation to enable that kind of integration. Egypt’s logistics sector is very promising and growing quickly, attracting serious interest from several Gulf investors looking to enter the market in a big way.

We don’t currently have the resources to grow into a top-tier player in logistics, so we believe it’s best to exit the sector — even though Ostool delivered very strong profits last year and is on track to do the same this year. At Raya, we believe in exiting a sector where we can’t currently be among the top players.

E: Where do you see Raya in the coming few years — will it expand into new sectors or focus on growing its existing operations?

AK: For the past five years, our focus has been on growing our existing companies. After we exit Ostool, our investments will span 10 sectors — which is a large number for any holding company. These sectors are all growing rapidly in Egypt, and many offer even stronger growth potential in markets like Saudi Arabia. So our priority is to double down on the sectors we’re already in.

Within our portfolio, we have four big companies. Raya IT is the number-one player in its field in Egypt and is also operating in Saudi Arabia, where we’ll soon be expanding further. Raya Trade has seen massive growth over the past three years, and we aim to make it the market leader in Egypt within the next year or two. Aman Holding is riding the wave of growth in fintech, including consumer finance, where it’s continuously developing innovative solutions to serve this fast-growing segment. Finally, there’s Raya CX, which as I mentioned earlier, is undervalued and has tremendous potential. The BPO sector is booming in Egypt, and we’re looking to grow our stake and take a different approach to scaling the business.

If we do enter a new sector, it will likely be AI and machine learning. We think Egypt is well-positioned to play a significant role in this field in the coming years. We see AI splitting into multiple verticals, and we’re currently exploring how Raya can participate in the near term. Internally, we already use a number of AI solutions and are now offering them to banks and retail players.

E: The government is pushing to localize sectors you’ve long operated in, like outsourcing, data centers, and EVs. What role can Raya play in driving this momentum?

AK: We expect massive growth in data centers, especially with the rise of AI. The computing power required to support AI is far beyond what’s currently available in Egypt — or anywhere else, really. All countries are behind in the computing infrastructure needed for AI applications, especially once governments begin integrating AI into their public services.

Last year, we signed an agreement with Africa50, which acquired a 40% stake in Raya Data Center, to build a new facility that will meet these demands. It’s a promising sector, but one that requires substantial funding to cover infrastructure, processing, and energy needs. You’re already seeing companies like Meta launch specialized ventures just to build AI-ready data centers for the next 3-5 years.

As for BPO, all the multinationals coming to Egypt have found that the cost advantage here is substantial. At the same time, Egypt has a growing base of young talent fluent in multiple languages — often with better proficiency than in competing markets like India or the Philippines. That gives us a major competitive edge. Raya alone employs 7k people in this sector, and other multinationals here have even larger headcounts.

At some point, the Egyptian consumer will rapidly shift to EVs in a meaningful way — and when that happens, we could face a shortage of affordable EVs in the local market. That’s why we’re focused on this space. It’s the natural next step for a market like Egypt.

Right now, we hold the agency for XPENG, a smart EV brand packed with cutting-edge tech.

We’re also working to secure distribution rights for other EV brands in lower price tiers, which would help us grow sales volumes and eventually move into local assembly, adding more value down the line.

E: What other sectors do you see Raya expanding in?

AK: We’re also seeing strong momentum in manufacturing. We currently produce air conditioners for some of the biggest global brands operating in Egypt, using our own technology. We’re also expanding into home appliances like blenders.

Within a month, we’ll begin manufacturing small appliances for an Italian brand that’s the global leader in its segment. To support this, we’re building a new dedicated factory for small electrical appliances.

E: What are your plans for expansion beyond Egypt?

AK: We’re placing a strong focus on the Saudi market, particularly through Raya CX, where we serve several sectors including telecoms and retail. We’ve also had a long-standing presence in the kingdom through Raya IT, where we offer ERP solutions, and we’re looking to expand there by providing services to banks.

We’re also currently awaiting a consumer finance license in Saudi Arabia through our partnership with Jarir Bookstore, the kingdom’s largest retailer of electronics, appliances, books, and office supplies.

We’ve also had a presence in Nigeria for several years, with offices in most of the country’s states. There, we operate in mobile phone and small appliance distribution, and we expect our operations in Nigeria to deliver a very strong performance for the group this year. We also have operations in Poland and the UAE, but our primary focus at the moment is Saudi Arabia.

Alongside our cross-border expansion, we’re also working to grow our export business from Egypt. For example, Raya Foods is the country’s largest exporter of frozen strawberries.

We’re setting up a dehydration line to maximize the added value of our strawberry exports — all of which are shipped to the US and Western Europe — helping us grow our revenues in hard currency.

Tags: