Saudi Arabia’s Alhokair family to buy minority stake in Egypt’s valU for $12.4m – The National

Saudi Arabia’s Alhokair family to buy minority stake in Egypt’s valU for $12.4m – The National

Egypt-based buy now, pay later (BNPL) FinTech platform valU has entered into an agreement to sell a minority stake to Saudi Arabia’s Alhokair family for $12.4 million.

Fawaz Alhokair, Salman Alhokair and Abdul Majeed Alhokair will acquire a 4.99 per cent stake in the FinTech platform — part of EFG Hermes — valuing it at $247.4m, valU said in a statement on Monday.

The transaction, which is subject to regulatory approvals, marks the Alhokair family’s first investment in a BNPL platform in Egypt.

“The transaction … is a testament to valU’s visible success story, business model and potential for growth in Egypt and on a regional level,” said Karim Awad, group chief executive of EFG Hermes Holding.

The agreement comes after valU signed a deal earlier this month with FAS Labs, a joint venture owned by Alhokair and mall operator Arabian Centres Company to expand the BNPL consumer financing model in the kingdom.

Under the partnership, valU will acquire a 35 per cent stake in the paid-up capital of FAS Finance, the newly announced consumer microfinancing company owned by FAS Labs.

Last month, valU also joined forces with e-commerce company Amazon to ease consumer financing in Egypt.

The BNPL business model, which allows consumers to make