MNT-Halan now has six months to complete Egypt’s largest tech IPO after regulators granted a temporary listing to its parent company, MNT Tech Holding. The Egyptian Exchange (EGX) approved the move on September 14, allowing 1.6 billion shares, valued at EGP0.10 each (about $3 million total), to enter the exchange database under the ticker HALN.CA. The shares fall under the Non-banking Financial Services sector, though trading remains frozen pending final approval.
The listing comes with a strict deadline: mid-March 2027. If MNT Tech fails to meet all conditions, including completing the offering and securing final approval from the Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA), the temporary listing will be voided. The FRA can extend the deadline only if the company provides a justified timeline. The pressure is high; the company must also finalize its FRA registration and submit a formal offering application to the EGX within the window.
Valuation remains the biggest unknown. In June 2024, MNT-Halan was valued at $1.4 billion following an investment led by Al Ahly Capital, the private equity arm of Egypt’s National Bank of Egypt. However, the IPO will cover only its Egyptian unit, which Bloomberg reported was being pitched at $900 million to $1 billion in June. Advisory firms Citigroup and EFG Hermes are supporting the process, but the listed entity excludes MNT-Halan’s Turkish, Emirati, and Pakistani operations, leaving those businesses private. Public investors will effectively pay less for a smaller, more regulated portion of the company.
Founded in 2018 as a ride-hailing app for two- and three-wheelers, MNT-Halan pivoted into Egypt’s largest non-bank lender for unbanked and underbanked customers. Since hitting unicorn status in 2023 with a $400 million funding round, it has disbursed over $15.5 billion in loans to more than 8 million people. The IPO could serve as a model for other African tech firms seeking exits, particularly those structuring listings to separate high-risk international operations from their regulated local businesses.
Egypt’s stock market has seen strong local performance, its main index rose over 23% this year, but foreign investment has lagged. Bankers view MNT-Halan’s offering as a potential catalyst to reverse that trend. CEO Mounir Nakhla has spent recent months meeting investors in the Gulf, London, and the U.S., while Valu, a buy-now-pay-later platform, listed in 2025 and surged on its first day. For founders in Lagos and Nairobi, the structure of MNT-Halan’s listing, ring-fencing the core Egyptian business, could set a precedent for how African tech companies approach public markets.
