Egyptian company Swvl, which specializes in mass-sharing services, said on Wednesday that it had signed a final agreement for a reverse merger with Nasdaq-listed US company Queens Gambit.
A reverse merger is the acquisition by a private company of shares of a public company that results in the private company becoming public without an increase in capital and without an initial public offering.
Swvl added, in a statement carried by Reuters, that the company resulting from the merger will be called Swvl Holdings Corp. and will be listed on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange.
Founded by Egyptian youth Mostafa Kandil Swivel in Egypt in 2017, it is currently headquartered in Dubai, providing mass transit services in emerging markets.
The deal values Swvl shares at approximately $1.5 billion, making it the largest unicorn company based in the Middle East to go public for the first time on the Nasdaq.
Before the announcement of the deal, Mostafa Kandil, founder of the company and his two partners, the two young Egyptians Mahmoud Noah and Ahmed Sabah, owned more than 30% of Swvl, while the rest belonged to Swvl. For about 17 investment funds, including Outotech in the United States, VC Vostok Ventures in Sweden, the Omani sovereign fund, Beko Capital in Dubai and MSA in China, according to Reuters.
Swvl currently operates in 10 cities in the Middle East and Africa, and plans to enter new markets, and its revenues last year amounted to about $26 million, and Swvl expects this number to double. to $79 million this year.
The deal will provide $445 million in revenue to the company, which it will use to expand to 20 countries by 2025.
