MNT-Halan’s parent completes its EGP 4 bn injection into the Egyptian arm

Good morning, lovely people. The theme in today’s issue is money that isn’t where it needs to be: containers are stuck at the ports and tanks are built but not filled.

Our big story today: Importers can get USD from their banks again, but with the greenback past EGP 56, bringing goods in is costing them more, importers and traders tell us. Some banks charge sourcing commissions of up to 0.25%, and port storage averages about USD 150 per container daily. Factories say they are holding their prices, yet shoppers are paying more for cheese and some other food staples, and we tell you why that is below.

AND- The USD distribution questions continue, as the state is choosing where to put its own greenbacks. Egypt has built storage for 33 mn barrels of oil, but it doesn’t have the USD 2.5 bn to fill it, President Abdel Fattah El Sisi said at Egypt Forum. Much of that money has gone to keeping foreign oil partners paid and covering about USD 3 bn a month in fuel purchases, and we spoke to a source who explains why that’s the right call.

MEANWHILE- Cairo-based solar and water startup NoorNation closed a USD 1.05 mn seed round, and Linah Farms, one of its biggest clients, signed on as a shareholder after nine months of due diligence. Linah will also help fund NoorNation’s pay-per-use solar irrigation for farmers on Egypt’s old farmland, where most still pump with diesel, founder Ragy Ramadan says.

Over in private equity, Tanmiya Capital Ventures has about USD 80 mn to put into local mid-caps over the next two to three years, Managing Partner Mohamed Mahgoub tells us, after closing its second fund at USD 130 mn. Development finance institutions put up all of it, and Mahgoub has argued that the market won’t mature until local pension funds and insurers start writing checks too.

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A round trip

MNT-Halan’s EGP 4 bn post-IPO capital increase is fully paid, and it puts half of the IPO proceeds back inside the listed company. Parent MNT Investments BV subscribed to 163.27 mn new shares in MNT Tech Holding for Financial Investments at the EGP 24.50 offer price, lifting issued capital to EGP 176.3 mn from EGP 160 mn and the share count to 1.76 bn from 1.6 bn, according to the board minutes (pdf) of Monday’s meeting. The increase now goes to the Financial Regulatory Authority, the EGX, and Misr for Central Clearing, Depository and Registry.

That’s 51% of what the offering raised, by our math, and it matters because the IPO was fully secondary: all EGP 7.84 bn went to the seller, not the company, so the increase is how fresh capital reaches the Egyptian business. Subscription was reserved for the parent, a structure shareholders approved at an extraordinary general meeting on 16 September, before the IPO and while the parent was still the only shareholder. It sold 320 mn shares in the offering and 24.3 mn more to senior management, leaving it at 78.5%; the new shares take it to 80.47% of the enlarged company.

The rest of the proceeds go abroad. Half or more of what the parent raised was always earmarked for the listed company, founder and CEO Mounir Nakhla said at the EnterpriseAM Forum before the book opened; the remainder funds the group’s Turkish business and an acquisition in an Arabic-speaking market he wouldn’t name. We don’t know yet what the company will do with the EGP 4 bn.

REFRESHER- The IPO sold 320 mn shares, or a 20% stake, at EGP 24.50 apiece for a total of EGP 7.84 bn. The offering was 16x covered, with the institutional tranche subscribed 11.2x and the retail tranche 43.6x. CIB anchored up to EGP 2 bn and Redwheel about USD 20 mn, together more than a third of the base transaction. The stock debuted on 20 October and closed 6.6% up at EGP 26.12, after touching EGP 28.80 intraday.

Venturing abroad

Raya Holding’s newly launched venture arm made its first investment, taking a stake in Pidima, a UK enterprise AI company founded in 2024. The EGX-listed group disclosed no size, stake, or terms in the bourse filing (pdf) announcing the transaction.

Raya Ventures is Raya Holding’s wholly owned venture capital arm. The vehicle was set up last year to back early-stage AI and fintech startups here at home and across Africa and the Middle East from pre-seed through Series A. Its mandate also allows it to invest in international startups looking to scale across the region.

Meet its first target: Pidima develops AI software that helps companies automate day-to-day operations and manage product development, with built-in oversight and audit trails. It mainly serves clients in heavily regulated industries across Europe and the Middle East.

REFRESHER- Pidima is the latest piece of a wider AI push at Raya. The board approved a fintech JV with DisrupTech Ventures and an enterprise AI company with EGP 250 mn in issued capital in May, then launched the latter in September as Raya Nexus. Nexus sells credit decisioning, customer management, and collections tools to banks and fintechs, and it went to Money20/20 Middle East in Riyadh. The push follows Group CEO Ahmed Khalil telling us in July 2025 that if Raya entered a new sector, it would likely be AI and machine learning.

Happening today

Retail investors have until the end of today’s session to get in on Banque du Caire’s (BdC) IPO, with the public tranche already 6.8x covered, Al Borsa reports, citing preliminary data from the EGX’s OPR screens. Investors had placed orders for about 2.3 bn shares as of yesterday’s close, against about 343 mn shares on offer in the upsized retail tranche. The final offer price was EGP 5.30 per share; that’s roughly EGP 12.2 bn (USD 228 mn) in retail orders chasing just EGP 1.8 bn (USD 34 mn) worth of shares, according to our math based on the offering circular’s EGP 53.46 exchange rate.

The usual last-minute scramble: Most of that demand came in over the past three sessions. The retail tranche was just 1.98x covered as of Thursday, with orders for some 454 mn shares, a senior government official told us. That puts the order book at roughly five times what it had drawn just three trading sessions ago.

WHAT’S NEXT- Execution is set for tomorrow, 29 October, with BdC shares expected to start trading on Monday, 2 November, subject to regulatory approvals.

PSA

WEATHER- Cairo is looking at another warm, bright autumn day, with a high of 29°C and a low of 19°C, according to our favorite weather app.

It’s a shade milder in Alexandria, with a high of 28°C and a low of 18°C.

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The big story abroad

The US is discussing business incentives with Russia and Ukraine to help bring the war to an end. Russia could see US energy companies return through an offshore project near Sakhalin and the resumption of Russian oil exports to Europe via the Druzhba pipeline. Other proposals include reopening Russian airspace to US airlines and joint work on titanium, a key element in aviation. Ukraine would get a plan to attract long-term investments. The US aims to advance these ideas, together with postwar security guarantees for both countries, at tripartite talks in Abu Dhabi next month, the first since February. US officials stress that none of the deals will go ahead while the war continues.

The leaders of Finland, Norway, and Russia held a rare call yesterday, exposing divisions in Europe over who should talk to the Kremlin. The call ran 90 minutes instead of the planned 20. They used it to pass messages to Russia about future peace talks, as Europe seeks a role in the peace process. But Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said the move was “not coordinated with the rest of us,” and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson warned that going solo risks splitting Europe’s united voice.

France is offering students concessions to end weeks of unrest. The government has promised to replace the Parcoursup university admissions platform by 2028, with an overhaul coming first. It also promised up to EUR 4 bn in loans for school renovations, 15k extra higher education places, smaller classes, 500 new teaching jobs, and increased grants. Protesters have planned further demonstrations, and much of the plan will fall to President Emmanuel Macron’s successor after next year’s election.

*** 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 what Egypt’s new mining compact with the World Bank still lacks: details on the money and the maps.