MNT-Halan Rises as Much as 18% on Its EGX Debut

MNT-Halan, the Cairo lender and payments company that became Egypt's first fintech unicorn, started trading on the Egyptian Exchange on Tuesday 20 October under the ticker HALN. The shares opened at the offer price of EGP 24.50 and climbed as high as EGP 28.91 during the day, a rise of up to 18%, according to Launch Base Africa.

The offering covered 320 million shares, a 20% stake in MNT Tech Holding for Financial Investments, the holding company for the Egyptian business. At EGP 24.50 that is about EGP 7.84 billion, and it values the company at about EGP 39.2 billion, or roughly $750 million, Arab Finance reports.

Who bought

The private placement of 272 million shares closed 11.2 times oversubscribed, and more than 19 times once the two cornerstone investors are excluded, according to EnterpriseAM. More than 300 investors from more than 10 countries took part, including the Gulf, the United Kingdom, France, Switzerland, South Africa and Egypt.

• Commercial International Bank committed up to EGP 2 billion as a cornerstone investor, and London-based Redwheel about $20 million, together covering roughly 39% of the base offering, Arab Finance reports.
• The seller was MNT Investments B.V., the parent, so the proceeds go to the shareholder rather than into the company, according to EnterpriseAM.
• The prospectus allowed up to 80 million extra shares, which would have lifted the sale to 25% of the company. EnterpriseAM reports the option was not exercised.

A nervous market

The debut lands in a weak week for Cairo stocks. The EGX30 fell 2.63% on Sunday 18 October to its lowest close since 1 July, with foreign investors net sellers, according to The Middle East Observer, which also notes that an oversubscribed secondary sale moves existing shares rather than bringing new money into the company.

Cairo brokerage Al Ahly Pharos sees the shares reaching EGP 36.75 within 12 months, about 50% above the offer price, and projects roughly 50% net profit growth in 2027, Arab Finance reports. EnterpriseAM calculated in October that the offer price was about 20 times the company's 2025 net income of EGP 1.98 billion, below the 28.5 times of its closest listed peer, Valu.

Nakhla has said that half or more of the parent's proceeds would return to the listed company through a capital increase of up to EGP 4 billion, with the rest funding the Turkish business and an acquisition in an Arabic-speaking market, according to EnterpriseAM. The parent must keep at least 51% of its stake for two years from listing.