Gulf IPO slump sends bankers looking elsewhere as Citi bets the window reopens

The Gulf’s listing machine has stalled, and its bankers have gone looking for work. Regional IPO volumes are under USD 1.1 bn this year, behind sub-Saharan Africa for the first time, and the desks built for the boom are billing hours in Cairo, Istanbul and Mumbai instead. MNT-Halan’s EGX float and Adia’s line into India’s NSE IPO are that trade in action. Citi is the dissenting voice, raising USD 40 bn for Saudi clients on a bet that the window reopens.

Gulf banks that staffed up for the IPO boom are deploying those teams elsewhere. Regional IPO volumes are under USD 1.1 bn this year, behind sub-Saharan Africa’s USD 1.37 bn for the first time — a gap Dangote Petroleum Refinery widens when it prices its USD 1.6 bn Lagos listing, Bloomberg reports.

Where the fees went: HSBC, usually top of Gulf ECM league tables, hasn’t closed a Gulf IPO in 2026 despite 50-plus live mandates across MENA and Turkey, capital markets co-head Mohammed Fannouch says. It has led Turkish secondaries instead — USD 552 mn across seven deals, nearly double 2025’s volume. EFG Hermes is leaning into Egypt, working with Citi on a Cairo listing for MNT-Halan’s local arm plus Banque du Caire and Misr Life Ins IPOs. Emirates NBD went furthest, taking majority control of India’s RBL Bank to expand investment banking there and co-arranging Airtel Money’s London listing with FAB.

The EGX is about to find out if international money is still watching. MNT-Halan’s Egyptian arm earned EGX approval for an IPO watched well beyond Cairo. Our friends at EFG Hermes have the mandate alongside Citi, and pitched up to USD 1 bn for the Egypt arm in June, against a USD 1.4 bn mark on the group. Only the local unit lists; the parent, with arms in Pakistan, Turkey, and the UAE, stays private.

MNT-Halan has been on the road in recent months testing market appetite, making in-person and virtual stops in the Gulf, London, the United States, and beyond. One investor we spoke with in late summer described the early look presentation as “very compelling.”

We expect the transaction to hit the market soon. Bloomberg reported in June that the company was eyeing an IPO as early as this year, though its plans could change. The EGX listing committee gave MNT until mid-March to complete the transaction.

Gulf sovereign money is lining up for India’s biggest listing. Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (Adia) and Lunate are weighing sizable anchor allocations in the National Stock Exchange’s (NSE) USD 2.7 bn IPO, Moneycontrol reports, citing unnamed sources. Talks are ongoing and allocations aren’t final, but NSE is targeting a valuation as high as USD 46.3 bn, Reuters reports.

One bank is betting the Gulf window reopens. Citigroup has raised over USD 40 bn for Saudi clients year-to-date and has lifted its internal exposure limits on the Kingdom since the Iran war began, Citi Saudi Arabia Chief Country Officer Fahad Aldeweesh tells Semafor, citing the Kingdom’s “strong economic resilience and financial resilience.” He calls Saudi Arabia a “high priority market,” expects IPO activity to recover in the coming months, and plans to keep expanding a Saudi team that currently numbers 35.

MENA’s most valuable fintech just repriced itself 44% higher without going near a stock exchange. Tabby raised USD 233 mn at a USD 6.5 bn valuation in a series F led by Hong Kong’s Blue Pool Capital, with existing backers HSG, Wellington Management, and Arbor Ventures taking part, the company said in a statement. It was last valued at USD 4.5 bn at its share sale in October 2025.

“The proceeds are primarily about giving us the capital to go deeper in our two core markets,” CEO and co-founder Hosam Arab tells Reuters, meaning Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Part of the round also gives employees liquidity, extending share tenders Tabby has run since 2023 that have facilitated more than USD 100 mn in share sales.

Abu Dhabi has a chipmaker heading for a US listing. MGX-backed Altera has confidentially filed for an IPO that a previous report said could raise over USD 2 bn as early as this year, Reuters reports. Altera is pitching its reconfigurable chips as a companion to GPUs — targeted support for data center networking and lightweight AI inference — as it looks to ride Wall Street’s appetite for AI. It hasn’t specified a share count or price range.

Egypt is heading back to international debt markets before year-end. The Finance Ministry is weighing a return between October and December to narrow the financing gap, a senior government official tells us. The cabinet approved measures last week under the ministry’s FY 2026-27 issuance plan targeting some USD 3 bn of international bonds — a mix of conventional and “innovative” instruments plus credit-guaranteed panda bonds — to be executed as demand and market conditions allow.

Space42 and Viasat are putting USD 1 bn behind their satellite-to-smartphone venture. The ADX-listed space tech firm and the US satellite operator have signed the agreement formally establishing Equatys and committed as much as USD 1 bn in equity, per an ADX disclosure (pdf). Each co-founder commits USD 400 mn, with Space42 adding another USD 200 mn in a future round alongside outside investors; longer term, the two see the JV funded by a mix of their own equity, debt financing, and third-party capital.

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Financial infrastructure firm Tarabut has raised USD 50 mn in strategic funding, with Riyad Bank, Alawwal Investment’s X-Tech Fund, and Gulf International Bank taking part alongside Al Zamil Group, Kanoo Investment Projects, and other regional institutions, according to a press release.

Abu Dhabi-based Synapse Analytics has raised USD 13 mn in a series A, taking total funding to USD 17 mn, the firm said in a press release. Paris-based Partech led, with Jordan’s Silicon Badia and Cairo-based Algebra Ventures participating. The capital goes to hiring, product development, and international expansion.

XRG closes its Southern Gas Corridor investment: Adnoc’s global investment arm completed its acquisition of an equity stake in Azerbaijan’s Southern Gas Corridor (SGC) from the country’s Energy Ministry after clearing the required regulatory approvals, according to a press release (pdf). XRG didn’t disclose the size or value of the stake, though Trend.az and Egypt Oil & Gas reported it at 12.5%.

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