Transaction Advisory in Egypt

Most deals in Egypt don't go wrong at signing. They go wrong eighteen months later, when the Tax Authority examines years you now own, or when the working capital you paid for turns out to be receivables nobody will collect.
The management accounts in a data room are built to sell the business. They are rarely the numbers the Egyptian Tax Authority will assess, and rarely the numbers your HQ auditors will accept. That gap is where buyers lose money.
We find it before you sign. Every exposure we identify becomes one of three things: a price adjustment, a specific indemnity, or a condition to close. It does not become your problem.
What we cover
• Financial due diligence: quality of earnings, normalised EBITDA, working capital and net debt, and how the reported numbers reconcile to the tax returns.
• Tax due diligence: open tax years, examination history, pending disputes, VAT and e-invoicing compliance, withholding tax and payroll exposure, estimated and ranked by likelihood.
• Deal structuring: share deal or asset deal, holding structure, and the tax cost of each route for the buyer and the seller.
• Pre-sale readiness (vendor side): we clean up the tax and financial file before buyers see it, so findings don't cut your price.
How it works
1. Scoping call (48 hours). You tell us the target, the deal size and your timeline. We agree scope and fees in writing.
2. Data request. We send a focused request list, built for Egyptian companies, not a generic global checklist.
3. Fieldwork (typically 2 to 4 weeks). Document review and management interviews. Tax review is led by our former ETA officials.
4. Red-flag report. Exposures quantified and ranked, with a clear view on which ones should move the price.
5. Negotiation support. We help your lawyers turn findings into SPA protections: price, indemnities, escrow and conditions precedent.
Why OAF
OAF is led by Dr. Mansour Etman, with more than 35 years of practice and over 200 clients. Our tax team includes former Directors-General of the Egyptian Tax Authority. We know how an examiner reads a file, because our people used to be the examiners. That is the view you want on a target before you own its history.
Frequently asked questions
How long does due diligence take in Egypt? For a small or mid-sized target, typically 2 to 4 weeks from receiving the data. It depends mostly on how quickly the target shares documents.
Do I need tax due diligence if the company has clean audited accounts? Yes. An audit opinion covers the financial statements, not the company's tax exposure. Egyptian tax examinations can reopen several past years, and the buyer of shares inherits them.
Can you work alongside our international advisors? Yes. We regularly work alongside a buyer's global legal and accounting advisors and report in English, in the format their deal team expects.
Do you work on the sell side? Yes. Pre-sale readiness reviews help owners fix issues before buyers find them and use them to negotiate the price down.
What does it cost? Fees are fixed per engagement and depend on the target's size and the scope. You get a written quote after the scoping call, before any work starts.