Egypt’s biggest listing in years tests whether foreign buyers come back to the EGX

MNT Halan is the first live IPO the region has seen since Omifco, and the biggest name Egypt has sent to market in years. Foreigners have been net sellers of EGX equities all year, so what the book does here sets the tone for other major listings in the pipeline, including state-owned Banque du Caire. Elsewhere, Dubai’s Airtel Money priced in London, and the Paramount-Warner Bros agreement is finally pushing through.

MNT Tech Holding for Financial Investments, the Egyptian arm of fintech group MNT-Halan, is listing on the EGX. Parent company MNT Investments BV is selling 30 mn shares, 20% of 1.6 bn outstanding, in a fully secondary offering, according to an ITF issued yesterday seen by EnterpriseAM. Fresh capital comes afterwards from the parent, which will subscribe to a closed capital increase of up to EGP 4 bn at the offer price.

Only the Egyptian business is going public. The corporate parent — which also owns arms in Pakistan, Turkey, and the UAE — is staying private. None of those operations are part of the listing. That matters for anyone pricing off the group’s headline number: the parent reported a USD 1.4 bn valuation in June on the first close of a round led by Al Ahly Capital, the first time a commercial bank has taken equity in the business.

Why it matters: Foreigners have been net sellers of EGX equities all year, and bankers are betting this brings them back, which would open the door for Banque du Caire and Misr Life behind it.

The L’imad-backed Paramount takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery is now set to close next Tuesday. A California federal judge approved the settlement of a challenge from 12 state attorneys general, clearing the USD 110 bn merger, Bloomberg reports. The July suit went to competition, cinemas, distributors, and audiences. Paramount settled the challenge last week with commitments on film releases, USD 1.5 bn of extra US production spending, and new cable distribution agreements.

The debt: Paramount has c. USD 52 bn lined up on the back of that approval, Bloomberg reports — a USD 30 bn investment-grade bond maturing in 2066 at a yield of almost 9%, plus USD 9.46 bn of loans and USD 12.4 bn of high-yield bonds, with spreads narrowing across the offerings. L’imad, PIF, and the Qatar Investment Authority are providing c. USD 24 bn for minority, non-voting stakes.

Airtel Money priced its London IPO at GBP 1.9 a share, for a GBP 5.3 bn (USD 7.02 bn) market cap. The Dubai-headquartered fintech is set to list on 14 October in what could be the UK’s largest listing since 2021, Zawya reports. The offer covers 270 mn existing shares plus a 27 mn over-allotment option, leaving public investors with about 16.5% after admission, or 17.5% if the option is fully exercised. Group CEO Ian Ferrao told The National that a dual listing in the UAE stays open for the future.

FAB wants other banks to take a slice of its USD 5 bn Nigeria swap. The UAE’s largest lender is weighing syndicating part of its total-return swap with Nigeria, Bloomberg reports, citing people it says are familiar with the matter, as it looks to share exposure to one of its biggest African sovereign financings. FAB would likely stay on as Nigeria’s direct counterparty while picking up extra fees for bringing in other banks, one of the sources said. The bank remains committed to the transaction itself but is open to syndicating if there is enough market appetite. Nigeria’s Finance Ministry and the head of its debt office didn’t comment, and FAB said it doesn’t comment on client relationships as a matter of policy.

Mubadala sold more than half its Cube Highways stake into the Indian market. Its Seventy Second Investment Company disposed of 44.97 mn units in the listed infrastructure investment trust — 3.35% — at an average INR 153.3, raising INR 6.8 bn (USD 82.5 mn), according to BSE block deal data. That is a 0.93% discount to the previous close, and it leaves Mubadala with c. 2.65% against the 6% it held at the end of June.

Domestic money took all of it. Indian institutions absorbed the entire block, led by engineering group Larsen & Toubro at INR 1.5 bn (USD 15.6 mn), with mutual funds and life insurers taking the rest.

Turkey has started paying out investors trapped in its frozen funds. Holders in funds run by Tera, Pusula, Atlas, and Hedef Portföy get their full net investment below TRY 1 mn (c. USD 20.4k), and those above get TRY 1 mn for now, Reuters reports, citing a Capital Markets Board bulletin. These are advances, not settlements, and money market funds are paid first.

The hole: Some 455,758 investors wait on 131 funds holding c. USD 20 bn from seven managers the SPK pushed into liquidation on 17 September. Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz chairs a new board tasked with speeding up payouts.

Prosecutors: A fifth round of detention orders on 30 September takes those facing legal action to 217, 56 of them jailed pending trial. The Savings Deposit Ins. Fund has opened voluntary refund accounts for excessive gains from pre-liquidation sales, and Turkish law pardons manipulation offences if the offender pays the Treasury twice the benefit.

Uzbekistan’s Agrobank closed a USD 300 mn two-year syndicated term loan led by our friends at Mashreq, which acted as coordinator, initial mandated lead arranger, bookrunner, and documentation agent, according to a company statement. The facility launched at USD 140 mn and drew USD 365 mn of commitments from 19 lenders across MENA, the CIS, and the Far East — more than 2.6x the original target — before being capped at USD 300 mn.

ALSO WORTH KNOWING

Egypt and the UAE renewed their AED-EGP currency swap agreement for another five years, keeping a AED 5 bn facility in place to support bilateral trade and financial settlements, Wam reports. The facility is intended to support greater use of the two countries’ currencies in cross-border transactions.

Egyptian asset manager Zaldi Capital Investment is preparing to submit an application to establish a hedge fund targeting an initial size of roughly EGP 300 mn, Al Borsa reports, citing founder Mohamed Negme.

London-based private markets investor Pantheon set up shop in Abu Dhabi, with an ADGM office to target regional appetite for private equity, infrastructure, and private credit strategies, according to a press release. The asset manager, with USD 84 bn in AUM, appointed Firas Mallah — formerly head of MENA at Sagard — as MD and head of Middle East to lead the new onshore unit.

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