Vietnamese tech giant FPT opens first Africa office in Cairo

Good morning, ladies and gents, and happy Thursday. The IPO everyone has been talking about takes its last orders today, and the rest of the market is making room for it.

MNT-Halan’s retail book closes when trading ends this afternoon, and it’s 13.5x covered going in. While it’s great news for the IPO, it’s also part of why the wider EGX is having a rough week. Fund managers are selling stocks to release liquidity for MNT-Halan, Banque du Caire (BdC), and the offerings lined up behind them, three analysts tell us, and with fewer buyers around, a months-long small-cap bubble is deflating. It matters beyond this week too: a strong MNT debut next Tuesday on 20 October would help clear the way for the much bigger BdC offering. We unpack the flows, the margin calls, and what the analysts expect next below in our top story.

Speaking of BdC, word is the state could sell more of it than planned, and at a discount. Unnamed sources tell Asharq Business that the price range is EGP 4.30-4.82 a share and that the government is weighing selling 45% instead of 30%, which could raise some EGP 33 bn at the top of the range. That range values the bank 9-19% below its EGP 80.8 bn fair value, or at around book, by our math. As we reported this week, Banque Misr is selling the stake and keeping all the proceeds, with subscriptions closing in late October ahead of a November debut. Even at 30% and the reported prices, it’s more than twice the size of MNT-Halan’s IPO, and it would be the state’s first since the United Bank IPO in late 2024.

The timing makes both offerings a test of foreign appetite. Foreign investors have spent most of the year selling Egyptian stocks, and the tension around the region hasn’t given them much reason to come back. Still, more than 300 investors from over 10 countries put in orders for MNT-Halan, which is encouraging for BdC, though an offering more than twice the size will need a far deeper pool of foreign money behind it.

Over on the energy front, Elsewedy Electric and PowerChina’s Sinohydro signed a USD 2.2 bn contract to build a 2.3 GW gas-fired plant in Saudi Arabia’s Rabigh. They didn’t wait for the paperwork: the JV has been on site under a limited notice to proceed, and work is already more than 39% done.

The state is also selling its UN carbon credits directly for the first time, with bids closing 31 October. They’re a cheaper fix than a solar plant for exporters under pressure from foreign buyers, a senior government source tells us, though they won’t help with the EU’s carbon border tax.

***

ARE YOU MORE OF A LISTENER? Morning Drive is a 10-minute summary of today’s issue crafted for you to enjoy with your morning coffee, while getting the kids ready for school, or driving through the morning rush. And if you like it, tell your friends to tell their friends. They can find us on Apple, Spotify, or wherever they get their podcasts.

***

Hanoi to Cairo

Vietnam’s tech giant FPT opened its first Africa office, launching operations in Cairo as a base to serve clients across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, according to a statement (pdf). FPT Egypt began operating in New Cairo and launched with a team of more than 60 Egyptian engineers delivering software development, AI solutions, and application support. It aims to reach 100 employees by year-end, and 300-500 within the next three to five years, Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) chief Ahmed El Zaher tells EnterpriseAM. The office already serves clients in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Kuwait; Europe is on the map next, starting with France.

REMEMBER- The launch builds on a memorandum of understanding ITIDA signed with FPT at the Global Offshoring Summit in Cairo in November 2025. Egypt’s outsourcing sector generated USD 5.2 bn in service exports in 2025, roughly 70% of the country’s USD 7.4 bn in digital exports, and employs about 195k people across 252 companies. This new office will create more jobs for Egyptians and build local capabilities in the tech world, moving Egypt up the value chain, El Zaher tells us.

Why it matters: FPT brings scale to Cairo. The group operates in more than 30 countries, reported USD 2.66 bn in revenue in FY2025, and has a workforce of 44k+ serving over 1.1k clients, including 130+ Fortune Global 500 companies. Its services span embedded systems, semiconductor design, and connected-car software, which is the kind of higher-value work Egypt is chasing as AI automates routine offshore tasks.

Data point

USD 33.9 bn — that’s how much remittances sent home by Egyptians working abroad in the first eight months of 2026, marking a 27.2% y-o-y increase from USD 26.6 bn, according to Central Bank of Egypt data. August alone brought in c. USD 4.2 bn, up 21.7% y-o-y from USD 3.5 bn, though slightly down from the c. USD 4.5 bn recorded in July.

PSA-

#1- The Industrial Development Authority (IDA) is offering 400 ready-to-operate factory units across 11 industrial complexes in 10 governorates, and applications run from 15 to 29 October through the Egypt Industrial Hub platform, according to a Cabinet statement. The fully built and serviced units range from 48 sqm to 960 sqm and are suited to engineering, food, chemicals, metals, pharma, leather, textiles, and building materials.

#2- WEATHER- It’s a bit breezier than usual in Cairo today, with a high of 28°C and a low of 20°C, according to our favorite weather app.

It’s about the same in Alexandria, with a high of 27°C and a low of 21°C.

And over the weekend, expect something similar in the capital (a high 28°C) and a bit cooler for our friends on the Mediterranean (a low of 18°C).

The big story abroad

Two Singapore-registered container vessels were struck by “unknown projectiles” while crossing the Strait of Hormuz earlier this week, according to a statement (pdf) by the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore. One of the vessels caught fire and sank, while the other, struck separately, sustained hull damage. No injuries were reported in either incident.

Anthropic’s 3Q revenue jumped 45% q-o-q to USD 16.8 bn, and the company was profitable on an adjusted basis, according to an investor who attended a pre-IPO meeting with its leadership, Reuters reports. Revenue came in at USD 4.7 bn in 1Q and USD 11.6 bn in 2Q, the source said, as Anthropic courts prospective investors ahead of its highly anticipated IPO.

A bipartisan group of eight US states said yesterday they had sued OpenAI in state courts across the country, alleging ChatGPT has coached users, including teenagers, to harm themselves or others. OpenAI also faces lawsuits alleging ChatGPT helped users plan mass shootings or other acts of violence.