MNT-Halan’s local arm is heading to the EGX

Good morning, friends. Stories in today’s issue circle the same questions: where is Egypt putting its money next, and who gets to decide?

While we watch the birth of Egypt’s largest data center — and what Vodafone Egypt, Elsewedy Electric, and Cassava Technologies are calling the country’s first sovereign AI facility — the question is whether sensitive data will be kept inside the country instead of being routed abroad.

Another win: Processed food exports hit USD 4.47 bn in the first seven months of 2026 — up 10.7% y-o-y, and on pace to beat last year’s record. The trend shows us an interesting shift: what started as a currency hedge has turned into an intentional export strategy, and the next target is China.

And on the debt front, the government is done letting transport projects borrow unchecked. With sector debt nearing USD 14 bn and on track for USD 18 bn, the Cabinet’s Public Debt Committee now has to sign off on any new external loan.

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Why Rep. Neveen El Tahri is optimistic: Foreign investors see a lot of potential in Egypt. Their optimism, however, is not necessarily shared by many inside Egypt. So where does the gap lie?

On this episode of Making It, Rep. Neveen El Tahri, joins Patrick to make the case for optimism.

She dives into policy, privatization, the many opportunities ahead of Egypt, and her personal belief that changes on the policy level will eventually trickle down.

Listen to the episode on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Anghami | YouTube

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Every session on stage answers one question: “So, what do I actually do about it?”

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Halan seeks a ticker

The local arm of fintech unicorn MNT-Halan has taken its first formal step toward a listing on the EGX. MNT Tech Holding for Financial Investments has filed to list its shares on the exchange’s main market, according to an EGX statement. The application covers issued capital of EGP 160 mn, divided into 1.6 bn shares at a nominal value of EGP 0.10 each. It will be published for five business days before going to the exchange’s listing committee, with supporting documents still being completed.

The fintech unicorn reportedly tapped Citigroup and our friends at EFG Hermes to manage the potential transaction, pitching investors on a valuation of up to USD 1 bn for its domestic operations. That listing would apply to its Egyptian business only; its growing footprint in the region remains privately held.

Why it matters: If the filing carries through to an offering, it would be one of the EGX’s most significant listings in years — and a test of whether a homegrown fintech can pull foreign investors back to a market that has struggled to attract them.

REMEMBER- MNT-Halan reached a USD 1.4 bn valuation in June on the first close of a strategic investment round led by Al Ahly Capital, the investment arm of the National Bank of Egypt — the first time a commercial bank has become an equity partner in the company. This builds on the company’s 2023 unicorn milestone, driven by a USD 200 mn injection from UAE-based Chimera. MNT-Halan says it has disbursed more than USD 15.5 bn in financing since launch and serves over 8 mn customers, with a regional footprint that now spans Pakistan (via Advans), Turkey (via Tam Finans), and the UAE (via Halan Advance).

Sovereign AI, sealed

Vodafone Egypt’s business arm is teaming up with Elsewedy Electric and Cassava Technologies to build what they say will be our largest data center, Vodafone Egypt CEO and Managing Director Mohamed Abdallah said during a press conference attended by EnterpriseAM yesterday. The project will target 20 MW of capacity within its first three years before scaling up to 192 MW. The joint venture expects to draw some USD 200 mn for the facility’s first phase, with total investment reaching USD 1 bn once full capacity is reached. Vodafone Egypt business sector VP Mahmoud El Khateeb said construction should take 12-18 months (watch, runtime: 03:33), but the location of the data center wasn’t disclosed.

ALSO- Vodafone and Cassava separately agreed to develop what they call Egypt’s first sovereign AI data center, running on Nvidia hardware. The facility would allow local institutions handling sensitive data — like government bodies or banks — to process and store their AI workloads domestically rather than route them abroad, strengthening information security and data control, Abdallah said. El Khateeb put the AI data center’s cost at more than USD 100 mn, with completion expected within six months.

REMEMBER- This is the payoff of a plan Cassava first laid out to EnterpriseAM back in April, when the pan-African group’s Sherif Shaltout told us it was targeting Egypt for its AI factory buildout via “greenfield development, acquisitions, or both.”

Slots locked in

Air Cairo signed an agreement with Airbus to buy 15 A320neo planes at the El Alamein International Airshow, according to a statement. The carrier has agreed to buy a total of 30 aircraft for USD 4.2 bn, with 15 new jets scheduled for delivery at five units annually between 2032 and 2034, CEO Hussein Sherif told Asharq Business. Sherif noted that internal reserves and bank loans will fund the acquisition.

Taking flight in greater numbers: The expanding Egyptian budget airline was expected to finalize an order this week for 15 jets, with options for 15 more to augment its fleet. Air Cairo has over 40 aircraft, including 33 Airbus A320s, six ATRs, and three Embraer jets, according to its website.

A Fitch of confidence

Fitch Ratings expects current account deficit to shrink to 2.7% of GDP in FY 2026/27, down from roughly 3.4% in FY 2025/26, according to a Cabinet statement citing the ratings agency’s latest assessment. Fitch points to a diversified external financing base — including portfolio inflows of roughly USD 20 bn over the past 12 months, USD 15.4 bn in net FDI in 2025, and a banking sector whose net foreign assets have climbed back to USD 11 bn as of June 2026 from deeply negative territory during the 2022-2023 crisis — as evidence that the country’s USD needs are more manageable than the headline deficit number alone suggests.

Net international reserves stood at USD 56.2 bn in July, and remittances hit a record USD 47.3 bn in FY 2025/26, up 29.6% y-o-y — the single biggest support line for the external position. On debt, Fitch sees the public debt-to-GDP ratio falling from around 79% in FY 2025/26 to 72.6% in FY 2026/27, helped by nominal GDP growth outrunning debt accumulation and a stronger EGP reducing the local-currency value of external liabilities. The Cabinet notes that all of Fitch’s projections are contingent on the agency’s baseline scenario, which assumes a de-escalation of US-Iran tensions — if the conflict persists or escalates, the more optimistic debt and deficit path could come under pressure.

IN CONTEXT- In March, Fitch Solutions’ research arm, BMI, had the FY 2025/26 deficit forecast widening to 3.3% at the time, driven by the US-Iran conflict pushing up our energy import bill and delaying tourism and Suez Canal recovery.

PSA-

WEATHER- We are still feeling the heat in Cairo today, with a high of 36°C and a low of 24°C, according to our favorite weather app.

It’s a bit cooler, but still hot, in Alexandria, with a high of 32°C and a low of 24°C.

The big story abroad

The regional conflict is flaring up once again — this time, on two fronts. US forces destroyed five Iranian oil carriers in retaliation for two ballistic missile strikes launched by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps at a US Navy warship over the past two days, US Central Command said. This coincided with strikes by Iran-backed Houthi militants against Saudi oil facilities, marking a further escalation in the Middle East conflict.

In the AI world: Qualcomm announced a long-term partnership with Amazon, which could purchase up to USD 60 bn in Qualcomm’s AI data center chips to boost the Semiconductor player’s presence in AI infrastructure, a relatively new field for the chip giant. The agreement grants Amazon USD 4 bn in warrants that vest with product purchases, allowing it to buy shares at USD 161.26 each.

Speaking of which: AI coding startup Cognition AI — which builds autonomous agents that plan and deploy software with minimal human input — raised USD 2 bn in a Series E funding round led by new investors Andreessen Horowitz and Accel. The round brings the firm’s valuation to USD 48 bn, nearly doubling its USD 26 bn valuation in May, when it raised USD 1 bn.

*** It’s Hardhat day — your weekly briefing of all things infrastructure in Egypt: EnterpriseAM’s industry vertical focuses each Wednesday on infrastructure, covering everything from energy, water, transportation, and urban development, as well as social infrastructure such as health and education.

In today’s issue: We look into why our data center pipeline keeps growing even as actual MW capacity barely moves, and whether that gap can close before the Gulf’s head start becomes permanent.