Thursday, 17 June 2021

One step closer to an e-Finance IPO

E-Finance FV gets the regulatory sign off: State-owned e-payments firm e-Finance has gotten the approval of the Madbouly government’s IPO committee for the fair value of its shares, e-Finance chairman and managing director of e-Finance Ibrahim Sarhan tells us, declining to specify what the fair value figure is. The move will help pave the way for the company’s expected IPO this year, which would go a long way towards kickstarting the state privatization program.

So when will they IPO? Sarhan couldn’t give us a date as of yet. Sarhan had told the local press back in April that the company would IPO sometime during 2H2021. If true, that raises hopes that e-Finance would be among the four IPOs that EGX Chairman Mohamed Farid said would be taking place in the second half of the year.

E-Finance wants to use part of the proceeds to fund expansion in Africa, Sarhan confirmed to us. E-Finance partnered up with an unnamed international company on the expansion, and are currently studying how best to do that, Sarhan explained.

Advisors: Pharos and Renaissance Capital are managing e-Finance’s offering on the Egyptian Exchange, while Zaki Hashem is counsel. BDO is the independent financial advisor for preparing the fair value report.

CORRECTED ON 17 June 2021 — Sarhan had said back in April that the company will IPO in the second half of this year and not the second quarter as was initially noted.

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