EFG Holding takes $40m EBRD loan to widen MSME lending in Egypt
The four-year facility is the first the EBRD has extended to EFG Holding at the group level, and will be on-lent through subsidiaries that finance small businesses.
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EFG Holding has taken a $40 million loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, structured as senior unsecured debt with a four-year tenor. It is the first time the EBRD has lent to the Egyptian group at the holding-company level.
Until now, the relationship ran through subsidiaries. The EBRD has financed Bank NXT, Tanmeyah and Valu, among others. This facility sits above them, at the parent.
The money is earmarked for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises. Eligible subsidiaries that already run MSME lending books will channel it toward liquidity and working-capital needs. Part of the focus is geographic: regions where access to finance is thinner. Repayment begins after a one-year grace period. The programme is designed to help businesses invest, scale and create jobs, and to support inclusive and sustainable growth across Egypt.
EFG Holding describes itself as a financial institution that operates a universal bank in Egypt and the leading investment bank across the Middle East and North Africa.
What the executives said
Mohamed AbdelKhabir, the group's chief finance and operations officer, said the facility is an important step in expanding EFG Holding's role in the MSME sector. He called the transaction a new chapter in the EBRD partnership and said the four-year tenor provides stable medium-term funding to support disciplined growth of the MSME portfolio. Eligible non-bank financial subsidiaries, he added, will be able to expand their activities across customer segments and geographies.
Group treasurer Hesham Elbosaty said the deal is a valuable addition to EFG Holding's funding base and supports its strategy of diversifying sources of capital. The EBRD's successive facilities across the group — now including one to the holding company — reflect confidence in the institution, he said, and signal its financial strength and credibility.
Francis Malige, the EBRD's managing director for financial institutions, said expanding economic opportunity for MSMEs is central to Egypt's long-term growth. The transaction deepens the bank's partnership with EFG Holding, he said, with the aim that more local private businesses — particularly those outside major cities — gain the resources to invest, innovate and contribute to a more resilient economy.
Why lending at the top of the group matters
A facility signed at the parent can be allocated across subsidiaries as their portfolios grow, rather than negotiated entity by entity. That gives EFG Holding a dollar-denominated, medium-term source of funds alongside its usual channels, and it lets the EBRD reach MSME borrowers through several non-bank lenders at once. The two institutions have worked together for years; this is their first direct financing partnership.
The agreement was signed on the sidelines of EFG Hermes' 12th Annual London Investor Conference, which brings together global institutional investors, listed companies and capital-market participants to discuss emerging opportunities across the MENA region.
