Egypt’s Fawry Finally Goes On IPO With Shares Oversubscribed 30.3 Times On First Day

August 12, 2019

This has to be unprecedented for Egypt’s startup, Fawry, that was formed eleven years ago. Going public and getting listed on the stock exchange is one thing, but finding acceptance from Egyptian investors is the most significant thing that shows that Egypt ’s investment community is not only looking at the dividends on shares here but on the future prospects of the eleven year old company. Plus, this is the first IPO in  Egypt this year and the largest IPO yet.

 

Here Is All You Need To Know

  • Eleven-year-old Egyptian electronic payments company Fawry, after months of hype, finally went public on The Egyptian Exchange (EGX) in first Egyptian IPO of the year.
  • The share prices were fixed at the price of EGP 6.46, but soared 31 percent to close at EGP 8.48 on the first day of trading.
  • With this, the company now has market capitalisation of close to EGP 6 billion or $366 million.
Middle East and North Africa (MENA) e-commerce is worth $8.3 billion and has grown by 25% annually since 2014 Source: Bain & Company

“The Egyptian Exchange’s (EGX) platform welcomed today Fawry for Banking Technology and Electronic Payment, newly listed company number 216, to its main market with a trading code FWRY.CA,” the Egyptian Exchange said in a statement.

“The private placement was oversubscribed by 16 times and the IPO by 30 times. Egyptians represented 80.3% of the IPO and 50% of the private placement. Arabs & Foreigners represented 19.7% of the IPO and 49.3 of the private,” the statement added.

  • Fawry raising so much money (about EGP 1.64 billion ($100 million) from the Exchange is quite remarkable given that only 36 percent (254.6 million) of its shares were made available on The Egyptian Exchange for public subscription.
  • The offering was comprised of a secondary sale by Netherland Holding BV.
  • Ashraf Sabry, CEO of Fawry, in a statement, said that the commencement of trading on Fawry in EGX is an important step for growth and will definitely support its expansion plans.
Middle East and North Africa customers are digitally savvy, with the majority of their purchasing journey spent online, regardless of where they buy
See Also: Egyptian Startup Fawry Goes On Egypt’s Largest IPO

A Look At Fawry

  • Founded in 2008 by Ashraf Sabry & Mohamed Okasha, Fawry offers over 250 electronic payment services through its network of over 100,000 service points across 300 cities in Egypt – that include ATMs, mobile wallets, retail shops, post offices, and little vendor kiosks.
  • The company also has its online payment gateway that allows online businesses to collect payments from their customers using different methods including cash, credit cards, and mobile wallet.Fawry was acquired by a consortium of three investors; Helios Investment Partners, MENA Long-Term Value Fund, and Egyptian-American Enterprise in 2015. The three investors had reportedly acquired 85 percent of the company at a valuation of $100 million.

    Charles Rapulu Udoh

    Charles UdohCharles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organizations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution, and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world.

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