EFG has three more IPOs lined up before year-end, including one hefty offering

Our friends at EFG Holding have three more EGX-bound IPOs up their sleeve this year, one of which Group CEO Karim Awad called “a massive game changer” for the bourse. In USD terms, the offering would probably rank among Egypt’s largest listings in the last 15-20 years, he said on stage at the EnterpriseAM Forum yesterday.

Tight-lipped but optimistic: Awad declined to name the issuer in question but said its freefloat would be “very sizable,” calling the IPO “a true test of large foreign investors coming back into the stock market.” If they make money on that listing, he expects foreign capital to start finding its way into other stocks here as well.

EFG sees a strong 4Q in the cards for the bourse, a run Awad said began with MNT-Halan’s plans to IPO its Egypt arm here at home. The holding company’s investment bank arm EFG Hermes is serving as joint global coordinator and bookrunner on the highly anticipated offering alongside Citi. The bank is also seeing “very good flow” into M&A, he said. “Entering 2026, we were very strong believers that this would be Egypt’s year,” he added, before the outbreak of the Iran war threw a spanner in the works.

REMEMBER- The EGX was home to two IPOs this year: premium grocer Gourmet’s blockbuster offering in February — which Awad credits with renewing the market’s momentum — and energy solutions firm Korra Energi, which listed in May. The pipeline also includes several state-owned enterprises, namely Banque du Caire, Misr Life Ins., and at least a handful of petroleum players.

Awad said keeping the exchange rate flexible through the war — “as painful as it is to everyone involved” — has helped keep foreign money coming in, adding that CBE Governor Hassan Abdalla “did the right thing.” For global investors, he argues, the message is that Egypt isn’t burning through reserves to defend the currency, and that’s helped keep money flowing into the EGX and FDI.

Where’s the money flowing from? FDI is arriving through greenfield and brownfield projects, rather than acquisitions, with Turkish, Chinese, and Indian investors leading the way and the Suez Canal Economic Zone booming on greenfields, Awad said.

On a regional level, Awad expects little IPO activity in the GCC for now. EFG completed a rare IPO in Kuwait with Trolley just before the war and accelerated OQ Base Industries’ book-build during the ceasefire. He still rates the UAE, Saudi, and Kuwait as well-followed markets with interesting companies and sees a much better year for them in 2027 if the war ends soon.

On the NBFIs front: If you suspect there’s a consumer finance bubble brewing, Awad doesn’t agree. There are “very low” default rates across the sector, he says, though he readily admits he’s biased given EFG’s investment in the space. If anything, microfinance is the segment that needs more support, he adds.