Interview: Egypt's EFG Holding firm Valu drives expansion, banks on Amazon for scale

Zawya

a day ago

Buoyed by a strong debut on Egypt's stock exchange, Valu, a fast-growing consumer finance company, is now envisaging its first cross-border expansion and the launch of new products at home, according to CEO Walid Hasssouna.
'The listing showed that people see huge potential in the company, whose market cap stands today at more than EGP 17 billion ($344.614 million),' Hassouna said.
On June 23, Valu stocks began trading on the Egyptian Exchange (EGX) after EFG Holding, ValU's parent company, decided to hold a listing through in-kind dividend distribution, where 20.48% of its share capital was distributed to EFG Holding shareholders. On the first day, the company's stock surged by more than 850% from its opening price, jumping from EGP 0.78 to EGP 7.4 ($0.016 to 0.15).
'The stock has proven quite robust,' Hassouna said, almost three weeks since the initial listing. 'It has been trading at a value that surpassed the fair price included in the listing prospectus by 5% to 10%.'
The unconventional listing method, which entailed no capital increase, aimed at widening the ownership base of the eight-year-old fintech company, according to Hassouna.
'It is not your typical IPO,' he said. 'The company is capital sufficient, with a book value of nearly EGP 2 billion ($40.542 million). We do not currently have the need to raise additional capital. What is really important to us is to have a balanced and diverse capital structure and to include new players.'
Since its listing, Valu has secured nearly 20,000 shareholders including both institutional and retail investors, he said, while describing its one million users in Egypt as 'a core part of our journey'. 'So we thought, why not give them the opportunity to become shareholders and share in the success they helped create?'
Founded in 2017, the company has facilitated more than nine million transactions, securing a 25% share of Egypt's consumer finance market. In 2024, the company accrued a net profit of EGP 423 million ($8.574 million), a 78% increase from the previous year, according to an EFG Holding official statement.
The company has recently secured initial approval from the Central Bank of Jordan to launch in the kingdom. 'We view Jordan as a market that exhibits strong potential and are looking forward to launching soon and disrupting the market, similar to the impact we had in Egypt,' Hassouna said.
He added that his company hopes to expand westward into North African markets after consolidating its presence in Jordan, a move that may require extra capital in the future. 'That extra capital can be raised as equity or debt, depending on the conditions of each new market,' Hassouna said.
Amazon backs Valu
On the first trading day, EFG Holding also executed the sale of 3.95% of Valu's shares to Amazon, honoring an option agreement signed with the global e-commerce giant three years ago. EFG Finance, a subsidiary of EFG Holding, continues to own 67% of the company.
Hassouna sees Amazon's decision to acquire a direct stake in Valu as a 'a vote of confidence' attesting to the company's growth potential. 'It shows that Amazon is convinced that the company's value is bound to rise in the future.'
'Besides their expertise as the world's top player in the marketplace business, Amazon also helps transmit to us the expertise of similar consumer finance companies they work with in other parts of the world,' he added.
Valu is one of 45 companies that offer consumer financial solutions in Egypt. In recent years, the Egyptian government has implemented a set of reforms to boost the non-banking financial sector. In 2024, the total value of consumer finance amounted to EGP 61.3 billion ($1.242 billion), a nearly 30% increase from the previous year, according to Egypt's Financial Regulatory Authority.
At home, Valu is awaiting the necessary approvals from Egyptian regulators to launch a business-to-business subsidiary company that will provide financial solutions for small and medium-sized enterprises, he said. 'The SME market in Egypt holds vast untapped potential and significant unmet demand—opportunities we are uniquely equipped to capture and serve.'
'We have a big captive market. Most of our 8000+ merchants qualify as SMEs. As a starter, we can focus on our merchant network,' he said, adding that the service may be launched before the end of 2025.
Also in the works is a full-fledged one-stop marketplace on the Valu app where consumers will be able to browse products, compare prices, and complete their purchases, he said.
To widen its customer base, Valu is also set to launch a new feature whereby clients can be onboarded electronically: not exclusively through Valu app but also directly through a vendor's checkout portal. 'We are working on major partnerships [with vendors] to serve this purpose, and we are set to launch this feature in the very near future,' Hasssouna said.
(Reporting by Noha El Hennawy; editing by Seban Scaria [e-mail])