Banque du Caire files weeks behind MNT-Halan, testing Egypt’s market depth

Egypt is about to find out whether its market can fill two state-scale books back to back at the same time rising regional tension tests sentiment. Banque du Caire filed its ITF yesterday, weeks behind MNT-Halan, nearly two decades since the Egyptian government first tried to take the bank public. MNT’s retail tranche was 62% covered after its first day, with no private-tranche number out yet. Ezdehar is already writing EGX listings back into the exit plans for its next fund.

Banque du Caire has filed to sell 30% on the EGX, weeks behind MNT-Halan. Banque Misr is offloading 4.575 bn of its shares and keeping all the proceeds, with subscriptions wrapping up in late October and a November debut. At the EGP 80-80.5 bn fair value we reported in September, the stake is worth about EGP 24 bn (c. USD 460 mn), by our math — roughly triple the USD 150 mn on offer in MNT’s IPO.

Nothing new is being issued, so the bank itself raises nothing. That leaves the development-finance piece unexplained: In August, our Egypt desk reported the EBRD and IFC were eyeing 10% between them, with an EBRD official saying the lender wanted to “contribute to Banque du Caire’s capital.” Yesterday’s notice names neither, and no price range, tranche split, or cornerstones were disclosed.

The calendar is the risk. BdC’s book stands a better chance if it opens after MNT refunds unallocated cash, banking analyst Hany Abou El Fotouh tells our Egypt desk, and fund managers may treat the two as competing for a single Egypt allocation. With no demand figures from either yet, “you can’t say for certain whether there’s a liquidity squeeze or demand that can absorb both offerings.”

The state is lining up buyers. A European roadshow last month brought international investors into a large part of the private placement, a government source tells us, with roadshows for BdC and Misr Life Ins. still running. At home it is pressing the National Social Ins. Authority, Egypt Post, and the Awqaf Authority to lift equity exposure ahead of the state IPO slate. BdC would be the first state IPO since United Bank floated in late 2024, and the privatization record is one of the things the IMF tracks under the USD 8 bn program.

MNT-Halan’s retail tranche was 62% covered on its first day. Retail investors put in orders for 29.9 mn of the 48 mn shares on offer, Al Borsa reports, citing EGX order screens, which is roughly EGP 733 mn at the EGP 24.5 offer price, by our math. The 272 mn-share private tranche closes tomorrow with no demand figures out yet.

REFRESHER- MNT priced its 320 mn secondary shares, 20% of the company, at EGP 24.5 apiece, valuing it at EGP 39.2 bn. The retail book closes 15 October and the private tranche can be upsized to take the total to 25% of the company, subject to FRA approval. CIB has committed up to EGP 2 bn as a cornerstone and London’s Redwheel for about USD 20 mn. Founder and CEO Mounir Nakhla expects trading to start on 20 October.

Ezdehar is targeting c. USD 200 mn for an Egypt-only third fund, with EGX exits back in the plan. Egypt “can’t handle much bigger funds at this stage,” founder and managing director Emad Barsoum tells our Egypt desk. Fundraising starts in 1Q or 2Q 2027, with a first close around mid-2027 and a final close by early 2028. Barsoum puts the odds of closing within a year at 50/50.

The exit pipeline: Fund II was USD 175 mn and will be fully deployed by October or November, with the Consolidated Group add-on to DalyDress among its last deals. Exits from Rich Food and Al Tayseer Hospital are targeted within three to six months, one Fund I company in which it holds about 25% could list next year, and DalyDress and Zahran Market are candidates after that. Local institutions have largely stayed out, with Fund II taking a small allocation through Avanz Capital, a fund-of-funds backed by local banks.

Airtel Money fell below its offer price on its first day in London. The Dubai-based fintech rose to GBP 2 before slipping to GBP 1.93, under the GBP 1.96 offer price, despite a heavily oversubscribed book, Reuters reports. The secondary sale raised about USD 703 mn for existing shareholders selling 270 mn shares, at a valuation of around USD 7 bn.

A telecom selloff did not help. Shares in parent Airtel Africa, which held nearly 78% before the IPO and remains the majority shareholder, fell about 6% in London.

Asian lenders wrote most of Qatar’s paper this week. QatarEnergy secured a USD 3 bn five-year facility from Bank of China, ICBC, Agricultural Bank of China, and China Construction Bank Asia at 50bp over SOFR, Bloomberg reports. That one facility is larger than the USD 2.3 bn Chinese lenders had deployed across the GCC so far this year, against a record USD 11.5 bn last year.

QNB got more money and more time. It closed a USD 2.5 bn unsecured syndicated term loan, upsized from USD 2 bn at 75 bps over SOFR, with 25 banks committing more than twice the size, it said in a stock exchange filing. Nine Asian lenders put in c. USD 1.25 bn, half the facility, and three of the five lead arrangers are Asian. It is rolling over a USD 2 bn three-year loan signed in October 2023, taking USD 500 mn more and two extra years of tenor, Bloomberg reports.

Masayoshi Son is asking Gulf investors for up to USD 100 bn. The SoftBank founder has approached potential backers in the UAE for a new AI-focused acquisition fund that would buy companies and rebuild their operations around AI, the Financial Times reports, citing people it says are familiar with the discussions. SoftBank’s robotics arm Roze, which Son wants to take public, is likely to be involved. No commitments have been announced and the fundraising could still fall through.

Mubadala is in talks for a stake in Italy’s biggest mobile tower operator. Any stake would come as part of a wider take-private of Infrastrutture Wireless Italiane, Reuters reports, citing sources it says are familiar with the matter. One structure under discussion would have Ardian, which holds 32%, and Oak Holdings, an investment vehicle backed by KKR, Vodafone, and GIP, which holds 39%, buy out the remaining minorities with bank financing. Talks are ongoing.

Adia is weighing an anchor ticket in Zetwerk’s Indian IPO. The offering could value the manufacturing platform at USD 3.1 bn, Livemint reports, citing two sources it says are familiar with the matter. Adia is one of more than 30 investors considering the anchor book, alongside Norges Bank, BlackRock, Goldman Sachs Asset Management, and HDFC Asset Management. Zetwerk is expected to announce its price band today, with the offer opening within weeks.

Turkey is folding two state Islamic banking arms into one vehicle. Ziraat Bank’s Ziraat Katılım and Halk Katılım have applied for regulatory approval to transfer their 99.9% stakes to TVF Katılım Finans Yatırımları, a wholly owned Turkey Wealth Fund subsidiary, the fund said in a statement. It is targeting completion by the end of 2026, pending approvals, and calls this the first stage of a wider consolidation of state-owned Islamic finance.

Vakıf is not in this one. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan laid out a plan four months ago to merge Vakif, Halk, and Ziraat’s Islamic arm and to take real-estate-focused Emlak Katılım public. Turkish Islamic banking holds more than TRY 4.7 tn of assets, about 9.5% of the banking sector, and ranks ninth globally by asset size, AGBI reported this year. Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek said in June that Turkey wants a top-five sector.

A Riyadh firm that deploys AI for Saudi government and corporate clients has raised an undisclosed round. Echelon took money from East40, RAED Ventures, and Avra, alongside Ben Horowitz, to widen AI deployment across the Kingdom’s private and public sectors, it said in a press release. It plans an applied AI engineering unit and a training institute in 4Q 2026 and a defense-focused division in 1Q 2027, then the wider region. Founded in Riyadh 10 years ago by Prince Khalid Bin Bader Al Saud, it connects AI providers with businesses and government bodies, with Applied Intuition, IFS, and Rubrik among its partners.

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