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Thursday, 24 March 2022

valU to enter Saudi Arabia in 1H2022

EFG Hermes’ consumer finance platform valU will set foot in Saudi Arabia before the end of 1H2022, marking its first cross-border expansion, EFG Hermes Finance CEO Walid Hassouna told Bloomberg Asharq. The fintech platform is also looking at the Moroccan and Tunisian markets in cooperation with EFG Hermes’ e-payments subsidiary PayTabs.

The expansion to Saudi has been part of valU’s plans for some time now: Hassouna had flagged last year that valU would tap Saudi in 2022.

valU is on a spending spree, with a couple of acquisitions in the cards: The company is planning to acquire two unnamed companies in a field that complements consumer finance, Hassouna said. The two transactions are worth a combined USD 20 mn, with one acquisition set to be announced in mid-April. The transaction is currently pending board approval after due diligence has been completed.

New markets = more money: The company is looking to double its revenues to EGP 5 bn this year from EGP 2.4 bn in 2021.

Separately: valU has allocated around USD 40 mn this year to investments, which will fund the targeted acquisitions, infrastructure upgrades, and marketing, he said.

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