ValU plans to offer 20-25% of its shares on EGX within 12 months

CAIRO - 21 March 2024: ValU Company intends to list 20 to 25 percent of its shares on the Egyptian Stock Exchange (EGX) within the coming 12 months, as stated by Walid Husseini, the company's CEO, in an interview with Asharq Business with Bloomberg.

 

ValU is a financial technology platform in the Middle East and North Africa region, offering comprehensive and convenient financial services to individuals and companies, including buy now, pay later services.

 

EFG Hermes will handle the offering as a financial advisor, and there may be other advisors involved, according to Husseini.

 

"We are more interested in offering in the Egyptian market, which will be more attractive to investors, as it involves investing in a market where ValU already operates. In this market, the company holds a 20 percent share in the consumer finance industry, in addition to other products it offers," Husseini added.

 

 

Currently, ValU is expanding externally, having applied for a specialized financing license in the Jordanian market, the highest-value license in Jordan that allows for services to be provided to the consumer sector, as well as the medium and small business sector, according to Husseini.

 

Obtaining the license requires injecting capital worth 5 million Jordanian dinars, or the equivalent of $7.5 to $8 million, according to estimates by Husseini.

 

Husseini added that the company has applied for the license to the Central Bank of Jordan and is awaiting a response in the near future to initiate procedures after establishing a new company there. Legal consultants have been appointed, responsible for the licensing file.

 

"We hope to obtain the license in the first half of 2024, and accordingly, we expect operations to commence within three months, for example, by the end of 2024 or the beginning of 2025 at the latest, in case of any operational delay for any reason," Husseini noted.

 

Husseini also mentioned that "ValU" is targeting another market in North Africa, but a specific one has not been finalized yet, as discussions are currently underway between Tunisia and Morocco.

 

Since its inception, the company has issued about seven bond securitization issuances, aiming to stabilize at a quarterly issuance, amid expectations of a new issuance before the end of the current quarter of about LE 900 million.

 

He said that the default rates in 2024 are at their lowest levels, not exceeding 0.8 percent.

 

The company aims to increase its annual sales by about 41.3 percent during 2024 to reach LE 13 billion, compared to the LE 9.2 billion recorded last year.

 

ValU also aims to increase its profits to LE 500 million, compared to about LE 230 million in the previous year, an increase of 117 percent, according to Husseini.