The EGX’s busiest IPO year in a while is a how-to for the next issuer

‘Tis the season for IPOs. This year has been the bourse’s busiest IPO year in a while. MNT-Halan’s EGP 7.84 bn offering began trading on 20 October after its public tranche closed 43.6x covered. Banque du Caire (BdC) then priced at the top of its range after institutions placed EGP 205.8 bn of orders for its private tranche, the most any EGX IPO private tranche has drawn in EGP terms. Misr Life Ins., El Nasr Glass, and Yayat are lined up for listing before year-end, with Enppi targeting January. So what does it actually take to get from a board decision to a ticker?

Exits and fundraisers

A listing is one route among several: a private round (MNT-Halan closed one in June, led by Al Ahly Capital), debt, a strategic sale, or a SPAC, a route Egypt has offered since 2021 and on which Matouk Bassiouny & Hennawy is reviewing four proposals.

Who gets the money? MNT’s parent is selling all 320 mn shares. MNT gets fresh capital only through a closed EGP 4 bn capital increase, which its parent has now paid in full, putting about half of the IPO proceeds back into the company. If growth capital is the goal, you want primary shares in the mix.

AND- Newly listed companies that meet revenue growth conditions get a corporate income tax reduction of 30% in year one, 20% in year two, and 10% in year three.

Who can list?

The rulebook, as amended by FRA Decree No. 26 of 2026 in February, asks for the following: an Egyptian joint-stock company (S.A.E.) with issued and paid-in capital of at least EGP 100 mn and a minimum pre-tax income of 5%; two full consecutive years of audited accounts under Egyptian Accounting Standards, signed off by an FRA-registered auditor; at least 25% of shares offered at listing (less is allowed if tied to the EGX’s total freefloat, with a floor of 10%) and at least 5 mn shares; and 300 shareholders after the offering, with freefloat kept at 10% or more.

Who falls short? Companies with thinner capital or less than two years of audited numbers, though SMEs and companies formed by public subscription get exemptions from the income and track-record tests. Groups held through an offshore parent need a reorganization first so an Egyptian S.A.E. sits at the top.

The sequence

• Hire the team: A bookrunner, counsel for Egyptian and US/English law, an auditor, and an independent financial advisor. MNT’s lineup: our friends at EFG Hermes and Citi, Gibson Dunn and Matouk Bassiouny & Hennawy, KPMG Hazem Hassan, and BDO;
• Get a fair value: An independent advisor sets it, and the FRA leans on it: its approval of BdC rested on a Baker Tilly study, while MNT’s prospectus carries BDO Keys’ number;
• Sound out investors. MNT spent months on roadshows across the Gulf, London, and the US. BdC held a European roadshow in September;
• File. The rules call for FRA pre-registration, then an EGX submission and an FRA-approved public subscription notice, generally within a month and in practice approved together. MNT took a different route: a temporary EGX listing, which came with a six-month deadline to finish the offering;
• Line up anchors. Cornerstone investors commit to a fixed allocation before the books open;
• Announce, then open the books. An intention-to-float (ITF) notice goes out first, then the FRA-approved prospectus, then subscriptions split between a private placement for qualified investors and a public tranche.

Case in point, MNT-Halan: 8 September, listing request; 14 September, temporary listing approved; 24 September, CIB signs as cornerstone for up to EGP 2 bn; 1 October, ITF; 6 October, FRA-approved prospectus; 7 October, books open (institutions through 13 October for 272 mn shares, or 85% of the offering; retail through 15 October for 48 mn shares, from 100 shares); 20 October, first trade. That’s six weeks from filing to debut, on top of months of groundwork.

What first-timers get wrong

Pricing is a choice, not a formula. MNT fixed its price at EGP 24.50, about 5.5% below the EGP 25.92 fair value BDO Keys set. Founder Mounir Nakhla’s logic: “an IPO by definition is priced at a discount,” he’d previously told us. BdC priced at EGP 5.30, the top of its EGP 4.82-5.30 range and equal to Baker Tilly’s fair value, so no discount at all, after its private placement covered 6x.

Timing moves the number. Nakhla says a listing in early 2024 would have raised just USD 30-40 mn. BdC priced after institutional demand held through a Thursday EGX selloff.

The obligations outlast the bell. Freefloat generally has to stay at 10% or more. Listed boards now need cumulative voting, a formal board evaluation, and non-executive committees, and quarterly reporting is a condition of the tax cut, according to ADSERO.

WATCH THIS SPACE- Misr Life Ins. is set to IPO in late November or early December, El Nasr Glass and Yayat in December, with Enppi eyeing January, priced in USD. EGX Chairman Omar Radwan expects five or six of the 20 temporarily listed state companies to complete IPOs within a year, he told us.