Egyptian fintech giant MNT-Halan has made a blockbuster debut on the Egyptian Exchange, raising roughly $150 million in what is the country's largest initial public offering in dollar terms since 2021. Trading in the shares began on Tuesday, October 20, under the ticker HALN.CA, with the stock closing its first session higher after extraordinary investor demand, according to Arab Finance.
The offering comprised the sale of 320 million existing shares — 20 percent of the company's issued capital — at EGP 24.50 apiece by selling shareholder MNT Investments B.V., for total proceeds of about EGP 7.84 billion. Demand was overwhelming: the institutional tranche was 11.2 times oversubscribed, drawing orders from more than 300 investors across more than 10 countries, while the retail tranche was 43.6 times oversubscribed with over 41,500 subscription orders, Arab Finance reported.
Shares opened at the offer price and closed the debut session higher, with reports putting the first-day gain between 6.6 and 18 percent, valuing the listed Egyptian business at around $745 million. EFG Hermes and Citi acted as joint global coordinators. The deal is the biggest IPO by a private company in Egypt in a decade, according to African Markets.
MNT-Halan, led by founder and CEO Mounir Nakhla, is one of Egypt's leading fintech platforms, with an app-based suite of borrowing, payments and investment products plus more than 1,200 physical distribution points across 25 governorates. Only the Egyptian operations were listed — the group's businesses in Turkey, the UAE and Pakistan stay private. Cornerstone investors Redwheel and CIB committed around $20 million and $38 million respectively, and the transaction allows for a further closed subscription of up to EGP 4 billion in new shares.