Egypt’s MNT-Halan raised $130 M securitization to reach over $400 M in funding by 2023

The first unicorn and fastest-growing fintech company in Egypt, MNT-Halan, has raised US $130 million through a securitization. This is one of five tranches of securitized bond issuances this year that have raised over US $400 million for the company.

MNT-Halan was established in 2018 with the goal of using digital banking to bank the unbanked and replacing cash with electronic solutions. Lending to small and micro businesses, payments, consumer finance, and e-commerce are all part of the MNT-Halan digital ecosystem. Over seven million customers have been served by MNT-Halan in Egypt, with over 1.5 million active users on a quarterly basis.

The business has now revealed that it has successfully obtained fine tranches of securitized bond issuances this year, the most recent of which was issued by CI Capital for US$130 million. All of the issuances were oversubscribed, and as a result, MNT-Halan has raised more than US$400 million thus far this year.

The “resilience” of its business model, “the high quality of its loan book, and a robust pay-back ability of the underlying loan book,” according to MNT-Halan, were the reasons behind the demand for these issuances.

“We are seeing very strong demand for off-balance sheet funding as we enter 2024. This is primarily a result of the high quality of our underwriting. This gives us great comfort as our loan book of US $650 million is growing at four-five per cent month-over-month. We are excited to continue launching new digital financial products in Egypt and beyond,” said founder and CEO Mounir Nakhla.

For the short-term tranches, MERIS (Middle East Rating & Investor Service) has rated all of the securitizations Prime 1, while for the longer-term tranches, the ratings ranged from A to A+. Al Ahli Bank of Kuwait, Al Baraka Bank, Arab African International Bank, Arab African Investment Management, Midbank, Misr Asset Management, SAIB Bank, ABC Bank, Arab International Bank, Banque Misr, and the Housing and Development Bank were among the regional and local financial institutions that took part in addition to CIB and CI Capital.