Beltone’s new B-Torohat fund aims to ride Egypt’s busiest IPO run in years

Beltone Asset Management launched B-Torohat, an actively managed equity fund targeting an initial EGP 500 mn that will invest in IPOs, rights issues, secondary offerings, and recently listed EGX stocks, the Beltone Holding subsidiary said in a statement (pdf). The fund’s private tranche was fully covered within a day, and the fund could be upsized depending on demand and regulatory requirements, it said.

How it works: Between 30% and 95% of the issuance proceeds go toward targeted investments — EGX IPOs, rights issues, and secondary offerings on the main market, along with ETFs and shares listed for less than five years — with up to 20% allowed in offerings on the EGX’s small- and mid-cap board. If suitable prospects don’t materialize, surplus liquidity can be parked in fixed income until they do.

IN CONTEXT- The fund is launching into the EGX’s busiest IPO run in years. Gourmet raised almost EGP 1.31 bn in February, by our math, and Korra Energi followed in June with a stake valued at EGP 735 mn. MNT-Halan debuted this week after its EGP 7.84 bn offering, and subscriptions for Banque du Caire (BdC) are still open. Once BdC lists, 2026 will match the four IPOs of 2021, a long way from 2023, when the exchange didn’t get a single IPO, and from the two it got in 2024.

SPAC attack

More companies could be heading to the EGX through special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs). Law firm Matouk Bassiouny & Hennawy is reviewing the proposals of four companies looking to list that way, Mohamed Abdel Fattah, partner and head of capital markets, told Al Borsa, although he didn’t name the firms or give a timeline. The firm is also advising on a private-sector IPO and the listing of the Egypt Education Platform, both expected to wrap up before year-end.

The pipeline is growing, but listing a blank-check company is only half the job. The latest vehicle, Spark for Acquisition, whose backers haven’t been disclosed, would be the EGX’s fourth SPAC, joining three others at different stages of finding and closing transactions. Catalyst Partners Middle East, which listed in late 2024, has closed its EGP 2.8 bn share-swap takeover of Qardy and Catalyst Partners Holding. Its board approved a bid for EIH Consulting in principle in April. Hassan Allam’s SPAC, renamed Grova Venture Capital in March, has yet to announce a deal. OG Capital, which listed temporarily on 19 May, hasn’t named a target yet and has until around 19 November to put one to a shareholder vote, unless the FRA grants an extension.

Shareholders step up

Contact’s bridge loan has its first backer. OB Financial Holding (formerly Orascom Financial Holding and the owner of 29.25% of Contact Financial Holding) agreed to lend Contact EGP 287.5 mn at zero interest, according to an EGX filing (pdf). The subordinated loan will be converted into shares when Contact’s planned capital increase goes through. OB’s board approved it unanimously on 20 October and will call an ordinary general assembly to ratify the decision, with no date set yet.

That’s 41% of the EGP 700 mn Contact wants from its main shareholders, roughly in line with OB’s weight between the two. Consolidated Financial Holding (42.01%) and OB (29.25%) together hold 71.26%, and they’re the only two classed as main shareholders in a separate disclosure (pdf). That leaves EGP 412.5 mn for Consolidated to cover, by our math. Third-largest holder Rimco EGT Investment (9.95%) isn’t a main shareholder, so it falls outside the loan.

REFRESHER- The non-bank financial services company plans to raise EGP 1.6-1.8 bn through capital increases at par, much of it to bring some subsidiaries in line with the FRA’s capital requirements. Contact has said the approvals will take time and it needs the capital sooner, so the shareholder loans are meant to bridge the gap until the capital hike wraps up.

Pyramids, meet Hotel101

Hotel101 Global, a Singapore-based unit of Philippine-listed DoubleDragon, signed definitive binding agreements for a country-wide JV with IGI Holding to bring its first hotel to Egypt. This will be its first entry on the African continent, according to a company statement (pdf). The initial property, Hotel101-Cairo West, will feature about 750 rooms across a 16k sqm site in Hay Al Ashgar along Ahmed Zewail Road in 6th of October City, around 10 minutes from the Giza Pyramids and the Grand Egyptian Museum. The company expects a total project value of EGP 5.5 bn, with completion targeted for 2029, subject to customary government, regulatory, and corporate approvals.

IN CONTEXT- West Cairo is filling up with tourism plans. State-backed Nevera Egypt for Sustainable Development plans to launch an integrated media city in West Cairo. It’s looking to bring international brands to construct 18 hotels and transform the area surrounding the Pyramids Plateau into a multi-mn-sqm hub for tourism, hospitality, real estate, logistics, and commercial activities. Orascom Pyramids Entertainment also plans to pour EGP 500 mn into the Giza Plateau next year, focusing on service quality, infrastructure, F&B, and cultural events.

A dose of expansion

Egyptian drugmaker Marcyrl Group signed a strategic partnership with Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Bio to localize a portfolio of its women’s health, fertility, and respiratory medicines in the UAE, according to a press release(pdf). Mubadala Bio Group CEO Essam Mohamed and Marcyrl CEO George Saad signed the agreement at the Future Health Summit in Abu Dhabi. The products will be made and distributed in the UAE, with more expected to be added over time. They range from fertility and pregnancy treatments to inhalers, nebulizer solutions, and nasal sprays.

It gives Marcyrl a partner with a regional reach. The partnership combines “Marcyrl Group’s manufacturing expertise in women’s health, fertility, and respiratory care with Mubadala Bio’s regional platform” and should widen access to the medicines “in the UAE and across the GCC,” Saad said. Marcyrl already exports across the Middle East and Africa, and DPI and Amethis took a minority stake in 2023 to back its expansion.

Egyptian drugmakers have been heading to the UAE: In 2024, MD Pharma signed an agreement with Dubai Industrial City to build a medicine factory worth more than AED 130 mn (c. USD 35 mn).

High-voltage investment

Sino-Egyptian joint ventures XD-Egemac and Chint Egemac plan to invest USD 500 mn to scale up domestic electric equipment manufacturing and build turnkey transformer substations, Asharq Business reports, citing an unnamed government official. The expansion will add production lines and deepen local component integration for equipment feeding state transmission networks, distribution grids, and renewable energy projects.

About the joint ventures: XD-Egemac (51% China XD Group, 49% state-owned Egemac) makes and assembles high- and ultra-high-voltage gear (including power transformers up to 500 kV) and has built about 37 turnkey substations, seven of them at 500 kV. It took part in transmission projects linked to the Benban solar park and the New Delta. Sister venture Chint Egemac makes low- and medium-voltage gear — distribution panels, transformer kiosks, ring main units, and circuit breakers — and has supplied electrical equipment for projects at the New Capital and the Dabaa nuclear plant.

IN CONTEXT- The state is already buying what these ventures make. The Electricity Ministry approved EGP 3 bn in October to expand the El Alamein and Dabaa transformer zones, including two new 500 kV substations, to serve data center infrastructure.

A direct line home

Egyptians in the UAE can now send money home straight into an Orange Cash wallet under a new partnership between Orange Egypt and Abu Dhabi-based fintech Botim, Orange said in a statement. Money arrives in the wallet 24/7, and recipients can move, spend, or cashout the funds once they land.

IN CONTEXT- Botim’s Egyptian footprint already includes a 2023 partnership with payments platform Fawry to let Egyptians in the UAE pay bills and send remittances home. This is its first partnership with a mobile network operator in Egypt, according to the statement. Remittances from Egyptians abroad hit USD 47.3 bn in FY 2025/26, up 29.6%, and the UAE stands out among the primary sources.