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Thursday, 17 February 2022

ValU taps new partnerships in sports, aviation, and education ahead of first cross-border expansion this quarter

EFG Hermes’ fintech platform ValU has teamed up with Al Ahly Sporting Club to offer financing plans on new memberships, the company announced in a press release (pdf). The partnership covers Al Ahly’s Gezira, Nasr City, Sheikh Zayed and New Cairo branches, and will offer financing with up to ten-year tenures for membership payments. ValU has similar partnership agreements in place with SODIC’s Club S and New Giza sports clubs, Al Borsa quotes ValU CEO Walid Hassouna, who also leads the firm’s sprawling non-bank financial services platform, as saying.

The airline industry is also on ValU’s radar: The company has signed a contract with Egyptian airline Nile Air to provide installment plans for flight tickets, Hassouna said, according to Al Borsa, and is currently in talks with three other airlines for similar partnerships, one of which it expects to finalize by next week.

As is education: ValU is also in talks with fintech startup Klickit to offer tuition financing, Al Borsa quoted Hassouna as saying. Klickit provides e-payment services for school fees at over 55k educational establishments. EFG Hermes led Klickit’s first investment round in December, which will see it integrate its tech stack with ValU’s platform. ValU has already signed with school operator GEMS and the American University in Cairo to provide tuition financing.

Regional expansion is in the cards for 1Q2022: The company is looking to make its first cross-border expansion into another Arab country before the end of this quarter, Hapi Journal quoted Hassouna as saying. The company had previously said it intends to expand into Saudi Arabia and North Africa this year.

Followed by a fresh securitized bond tranche: ValU is also looking to issue EGP 500 mn of securitized bonds in 2Q2022, part of its EGP 2 bn securitization program, Hassouna added. The company kicked off the program in September with a EGP 323 mn bond issuance.

The company carved out a sizable market share for itself last year: ValU rose to become the third-largest non-bank consumer lender in the country last year, with a market share of 11.3%.

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