As Egypt’s first FinTech platform, e-finance will follow Fawry, which had its own EGX debut back in 2019
Egypt’s e-finance for Digital and Financial Investments has confirmed that it will be going public through a full initial public offering (IPO) and list its shares on the Egyptian Exchange (EGX), planning to list 14.5% in Q4 of this year.
The company was previously expected to launch its IPO at the end of 2019, which was then pushed to either Q1 or Q2 of 2021 after the government’s decision to push all state IPOs to 2021, before an April announcement that it would go public in H1 of 2021.
As Egypt’s first FinTech platform and one of its leading developers of digital payments infrastructures, e-finance will follow Fawry, which had its own EGX debut back in 2019, becoming the first technology Unicorn in the country with a market capitalization of $1.07 billion (EGP 16.82 billion).
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According to a statement, the FinTech platform could include a primary issue and sale of up to 178 million shares, and a possible 80 million in a secondary sale to both institutional and retail investors at the same price.
“e-finance is readier than ever to begin its journey as a publicly listed business, with our potential IPO marking a major milestone after 16 years of hard work and transformation. Since the company’s establishment to develop and operate digital channels for the Government’s financial network through e-finance for Digital Operations, we have successfully grown our business far beyond the government sphere and our reach now extends to a variety of sectors across the Egyptian economy,” the e-finance chairman and CEO, Ibrahim Sarhan, stated.
E-finance is still waiting for the regulatory approvals and registrations for the combined offering from the EGX and the Financial Regulatory Authority.
Renaissance Capital, CI Capital, and Al Ahly Pharos act as co-lead managers for the transaction. NI Capital is the IPO advisor for the company, while Zaki Hashem & Partners has been appointed as counsel for e-finance and Norton Rose Fulbright acts as the US counsel to the co-lead managers.
Sarhan pointed out that, looking ahead, e-finance for Digital and Financial Investments is in a very strong financial and operational position to thrive over the coming years and to repay the confidence of its stakeholders and valued investors.
The e-finance Group was founded in 2005 with the purpose of operating the Egyptian government’s financial network.
The group’s revenues grew by a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 30 percent between 2018 and 2020 to record EGP 1.2 million for 2020 and EGP 904 million for the first Half (H1) of 2021.
“The group’s performance underscores its centrality to Egypt’s payments ecosystem and its continuous development of innovative products and services that generate value for state-owned and private enterprises across the breadth of Egypt’s growing economy. Besides processing EGP 2.1 trillion in government transactions, e-finance owns the largest producer of payment cards in Egypt, offering integrated smart solutions tailored to banking, transportation, cultural, education, club and smart city services,” e-finance explained.
