Cairo — EFG Hermes has completed its advisory role on an accelerated bookbuild of shares in Valu, marking another post-listing transaction tied to one of Egypt’s most closely watched financial technology names. The deal covered 53.8 million shares, equal to 2.55% of Valu’s share capital, in what the company described as a secondary sale rather than a capital raise for the business itself. The transaction comes less than a year after Valu was listed on the Egyptian Exchange, a debut that drew attention because it combined a novel distribution structure with Amazon’s emergence as a shareholder.
The bookbuild underlines how Egypt’s capital market is still leaning heavily on selective, well-structured placements rather than a broad-based reopening of flotations. EFG Holding had flagged as early as March 2024 that it was studying partial IPOs and capital increases in subsidiaries including Valu as part of an effort to unlock shareholder value. That longer timeline matters because it shows the Valu story was not a one-off market event but part of a broader corporate plan to monetise and spotlight faster-growing non-bank financial businesses inside the group.
Valu occupies a distinctive place in that strategy. Founded in 2017, the company has grown from a buy-now-pay-later operator into a wider consumer finance and embedded finance platform. By the end of 2025, its investor presentation showed 8.7 million transactions during the year, gross merchandise value of EGP 24.51 billion, loan issuances of EGP 20.89 billion and net income of EGP 764 million. It also reported a 23% market share as of December 2025, suggesting that the investment case being sold to public-market investors is built not only on brand recognition but on scale, transaction density and improving profitability.
That operating backdrop helps explain why Valu has remained visible in conversations about Egypt’s next generation of listed growth companies. When the company entered the market in 2025, EFG Holding distributed 20.488% of Valu’s share capital to its own shareholders through an in-kind dividend, and Amazon acquired a direct 3.95% stake at EGP 6.041 per share on the debut. Valu’s shares started trading on 23 June 2025 after the formal listing on 21 May, giving investors a fresh fintech name in a market where new-economy listings have been limited. EFG Finance Holding retained a 67% stake after that process, keeping control within the wider group while still widening the shareholder base.
The latest accelerated bookbuild appears smaller in scale than a transformational block sale, yet it carries importance beyond the headline number. Secondary placements test whether demand remains strong after the initial excitement of a listing fades. They also indicate whether advisers and existing shareholders believe the stock has built enough depth to absorb additional paper without destabilising trading. EFG Hermes has not publicly disclosed pricing details in the materials available, but the firm framed the placement as evidence of resilience and investor appetite. That message is consistent with how investment banks across the region have been marketing tightly executed ABB transactions: as proof that liquidity is available for the right name, even when the broader environment is uneven.
For EFG Hermes, the Valu sale also reinforces a franchise position it has been keen to project across MENA equity capital markets. The bank has repeatedly highlighted its role in complex placements and listings, and the Valu mandate fits that pattern because it links advisory work, shareholder distribution and public-market execution. Its June 2025 statement on Valu’s exchange debut described the transaction as a potential catalyst for renewed stock-market activity, reflecting a wider argument from market intermediaries that successful consumer, fintech and technology-linked listings can help diversify a bourse still dominated by banks, industrials and commodity-linked names.
Valu’s own numbers suggest investors will now judge it on a more demanding standard than the excitement of its arrival on the exchange. The company reported 902,000 app users by year-end 2025, non-performing loans of 0.98% in the fourth quarter, and a market capitalisation of about EGP 24.9 billion as of late February 2026 in its investor presentation. Those figures point to a company that is growing quickly while keeping credit deterioration relatively contained, but they also place pressure on management to sustain that momentum in a market shaped by consumer-finance competition, funding costs and Egypt’s broader macroeconomic adjustments.
The bookbuild underlines how Egypt’s capital market is still leaning heavily on selective, well-structured placements rather than a broad-based reopening of flotations. EFG Holding had flagged as early as March 2024 that it was studying partial IPOs and capital increases in subsidiaries including Valu as part of an effort to unlock shareholder value. That longer timeline matters because it shows the Valu story was not a one-off market event but part of a broader corporate plan to monetise and spotlight faster-growing non-bank financial businesses inside the group.
Valu occupies a distinctive place in that strategy. Founded in 2017, the company has grown from a buy-now-pay-later operator into a wider consumer finance and embedded finance platform. By the end of 2025, its investor presentation showed 8.7 million transactions during the year, gross merchandise value of EGP 24.51 billion, loan issuances of EGP 20.89 billion and net income of EGP 764 million. It also reported a 23% market share as of December 2025, suggesting that the investment case being sold to public-market investors is built not only on brand recognition but on scale, transaction density and improving profitability.
That operating backdrop helps explain why Valu has remained visible in conversations about Egypt’s next generation of listed growth companies. When the company entered the market in 2025, EFG Holding distributed 20.488% of Valu’s share capital to its own shareholders through an in-kind dividend, and Amazon acquired a direct 3.95% stake at EGP 6.041 per share on the debut. Valu’s shares started trading on 23 June 2025 after the formal listing on 21 May, giving investors a fresh fintech name in a market where new-economy listings have been limited. EFG Finance Holding retained a 67% stake after that process, keeping control within the wider group while still widening the shareholder base.
The latest accelerated bookbuild appears smaller in scale than a transformational block sale, yet it carries importance beyond the headline number. Secondary placements test whether demand remains strong after the initial excitement of a listing fades. They also indicate whether advisers and existing shareholders believe the stock has built enough depth to absorb additional paper without destabilising trading. EFG Hermes has not publicly disclosed pricing details in the materials available, but the firm framed the placement as evidence of resilience and investor appetite. That message is consistent with how investment banks across the region have been marketing tightly executed ABB transactions: as proof that liquidity is available for the right name, even when the broader environment is uneven.
For EFG Hermes, the Valu sale also reinforces a franchise position it has been keen to project across MENA equity capital markets. The bank has repeatedly highlighted its role in complex placements and listings, and the Valu mandate fits that pattern because it links advisory work, shareholder distribution and public-market execution. Its June 2025 statement on Valu’s exchange debut described the transaction as a potential catalyst for renewed stock-market activity, reflecting a wider argument from market intermediaries that successful consumer, fintech and technology-linked listings can help diversify a bourse still dominated by banks, industrials and commodity-linked names.
Valu’s own numbers suggest investors will now judge it on a more demanding standard than the excitement of its arrival on the exchange. The company reported 902,000 app users by year-end 2025, non-performing loans of 0.98% in the fourth quarter, and a market capitalisation of about EGP 24.9 billion as of late February 2026 in its investor presentation. Those figures point to a company that is growing quickly while keeping credit deterioration relatively contained, but they also place pressure on management to sustain that momentum in a market shaped by consumer-finance competition, funding costs and Egypt’s broader macroeconomic adjustments.
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