Rameda prices its IPO at EGP 4.66 per share

The nature and timing of an expected cabinet shuffle continues to be the top story about Egypt in the minds of the chattering class. The most significant development in the past 24 hours is a proposal by House Deputy Speaker Soliman Wahdan to resurrect the former Ministry of Information (which fellow grey hairs will recall was once the purview of Mubarak-era fixture Safwat El Sherif) as part of the shuffle. Wahdan’s suggestion has the backing of MPs including Nabil El Gammal and Ehab El Tamawy. Bringing back the ministry (which was dissolved in 2014) is consistently floated when a cabinet shuffle is in the air, but this is the first time we remember the notion having support at this senior a level.

When can we expect the shuffle? El Tamawy expects the House to receive a letter from President Abdel Fattah El Sisi before it’s back from recess on 8 December and for the shuffle to happen “within days.” But House approval of the change-up is unlikely to come by during an “extraordinary session” scheduled for Thursday, he told Al Shorouk. The only known topic the agenda tomorrow is the reappointment of CBE Governor Tarek Amer for a second term, Rep. Mohamed Abou Hamed tells the newspaper, although he conceded that its conceivable MPs would discuss a shuffle when they convene.

Meanwhile, as many as 13 provincial governors and 27 of their deputies will reportedly be replaced or reassigned today, Al Masry Al Youm claims, citing sources with knowledge of the shuffle.

Expect a measure of quiet in international markets — and here in the streets of the capital city — as Thanksgiving weekend kicks off tomorrow. US markets are closed on Thursday and have a short trading day on Friday. Many international schools in Egypt that follow a US curriculum are off for the day, too.

And beware: Egypt (like much of the rest of the world) has wholeheartedly embraced “Black Friday,” which some retailers in a fit of piety insist must be called White Friday. Unless you have a particularly compelling reason to venture out, we strongly suggest you refrain from visiting major malls this weekend.

The annual RiseUp Summit kicks off a week from tomorrow at the AUC new campus in New Cairo. The startupfest will run through Saturday, 7 December, under the theme “Journey to Growth.” Tap or click here for the full agenda.

The summit will be followed by the Pitch by the Pyramids competition, a multi-stage regional startup pitch contest involving countries from around the MENA region with the grand final event at the Great Pyramids of Giza.

A delegation from China’s Dongfeng Motor Corporation will be in town next week to discuss the possibility of manufacturing electric cars in cooperation with state-owned El Nasr Automotive, according to a Public Enterprises Ministry statement (pdf). The Chinese company had previously expressed its interest in manufacturing electric cars in Egypt for sale to the state, for use as taxis (presumably on a state-backed financing program as with the “white taxi” initiative of about a decade ago), and for export to Europe.

Other key dates to pencil into your agenda:

• The purchasing managers’ index for Egypt, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia will be released on Tuesday, 3 December at 6:15am CLT.
• The Central Bank of Egypt is expected to release net foreign reserves figures for November on Wednesday, 4 December.
• Monthly inflation figures for November are due on Tuesday, 10 December.

Fiat Chrysler and Peugeot’s PSA Group are set to sign a binding merger agreement in the coming weeks, according to internal communications obtained by Reuters. The merger would create the world’s fourth-largest carmaker, with previous reports indicating the new entity would be worth some USD 46 bn.

China’s Nongfu Spring deliberates possible USD 1 bn IPO: One of China’s biggest bottled water and beverage companies, Nongfu Spring Co, is working with financial advisors over a possible IPO in Hong Kong that could raise over USD 1 bn, according to Bloomberg. The listing could materialize as early as 1H2020.

Lebanon’s search for a new prime minister begins tomorrow. President Michel Aoun will begin consulting with parliament tomorrow to select a replacement prime minister for Saad Hariri, who resigned last month in an effort to appease mass protests against his government, Bloomberg says. Consultations reportedly take two days, meaning that the country could have a new PM by Saturday.

The next episode of our new podcast Making It appears this coming Friday, wherein a husband and wife team that set a fundraising record with their startup talk with co-host Hisham about everything from building a business together to the limits of artificial intelligence. Look for episode two in your inbox or podcast feed on Friday at 8am.

Our first episode with Jalal Abu Gazaleh, CEO of Gourmet Egypt, is already out. Listen here on our website or find us on Apple Podcast or Google Podcast. You can also listen on Spotify if you are listening outside of MENA (the local edition of the streamer doesn’t presently offer podcasts).

Headlining the talk shows last night: President Abdel Fattah El Sisi’s inauguration of a handful of national infrastructure projects and his formal launch of the nationwide healthcare program.

Third of July Tunnel, universal healthcare: The president inaugurated a tunnel running under the Suez Canal to connect south Port Said to Sinai, which has been named the Third of July Tunnel. Industrial complexes in Port Said’s El Raswa, the 30th of June highway running parallel to the Suez Canal, and the formal inauguration of the state-sponsored healthcare services were also part of El Sisi’s day, Al Hayah Al Youm’s Khaled Abu Bakr reports (watch, runtime: 5:54).

Suez Canal tunnels to improve East Port Said Port utilization: The Third of July Tunnel is the latest of a series of passages running underneath the canal that will reduce the journey time to and from the canal’s west and east banks from 12 hours to only a few minutes, Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone) head Yehya Zaki tells Yahduth Fi Misr’s Sherif Amer (watch, runtime: 55). This will increase container traffic in the port, and benefit industrial activity in the zone, he said.

Healthcare system gets props from WHO director-general: World Health Organization Director General Tedros Adhanom congratulated El Sisi and Egypt for launching the health insurance system, Hona Al Asema’s Reham Ibrahim says (watch, runtime: 8:17). “I’m really sorry that I can’t be with you in Port Said today for this very historic moment,” Adhanom said in a recorded message. “The Universal Insurance Law [or Universal Healthcare Act] passed last year is a major step forward,” he added.

Tiba-1 finally headed into space: Egypt’s first communication satellite, Tiba-1, launched yesterday from the French Guyanese town of Kourou after repeated delays due to technical problems, Abu Bakr reported (watch, runtime: 5:48). You can watch the satellite taking off here (runtime: 4:52).

Egypt’s T.J. Henderson sits down with Sherif Amer: Amr Ezzat, a 13-year-old child genius who was barred by Cairo University from attending lectures, has now been allowed entry and will be studying third year university courses. Ezzat sat down for an interview with Amer after he was brought to the nation’s attention by the media earlier this week (watch, runtime: 2:03).

IPO WATCH- Rameda has priced its IPO at EGP 4.66 per share: Rameda Pharma has announced (pdf) that it will offer 376,606,000 shares at a price of EGP 4.66 per ordinary share in an initial public offering on the EGX. The Arabic-language public subscription notice (PSN) to local investors is also out today in the domestic press and is here (pdf) on Rameda’s website (warning: large download). There’s more background in last month’s intention to float (pdf).

Greville Investing, the selling shareholder, will offer the bulk of the shares (357,775,700) to institutional investors in an international offering, while the remaining 18,830,300 shares area earmarked for retail investors in Egypt.

Greville will also subscribe for 125,000,000 newly-issued shares via a closed subscription. This will be funded by a bridge loan, which will later be repaid using some of the proceeds of the retail and international offerings.

Use of proceeds: Rameda, which bills itself as the fastest growing generic pharma company among the market’s top players, will take in gross proceeds of EGP 582.5 mn on completion of the closed subscription. The company plans to invest the proceeds in expansion, including the acquisition of new molecules and possibly the “opportunistic acquisition” of pharma companies.

Rameda’s market cap is expected to be around EGP 3.6 bn at the start of trading after the closed subscription, and retail and international offerings.

Trading is expected to get underway on 11 December under the ticker RMDA, subject to the completion of the closed subscription and approval by the Financial Regulatory Authority and the EGX.

Advisors: HSBC and Investec are joint global coordinators and bookrunners for the international offering, while CI Capital is joint bookrunner. Compass Capital is the IPO advisor, and Inktank is investor relations advisor.

PRIVATIZATION WATCH- HHD to sell 22-25% stake in 1Q2020, Tawfik says: State-owned Heliopolis Housing and Development (HHD) will offer a 22-25% stake in a secondary offering scheduled to go to market in 1Q2020, Public Enterprises Minister Hisham Tawfik said, according to Reuters. This means that 12-15% of the company will be sold on the EGX, with the remaining 10% and management rights o the company set to be sold to a private investor. HHD is set to launch a tender to select a lead manager for the EGX sale “within days,” Chairman Hany El Deeb told the press.

Contracts to be signed at the end of 1Q2020: The contracts for the 10% stake sale and management rights will be signed at the end of 1Q2020, El Deeb said. He noted that both real estate developer SODIC and private equity firm BPE Partners have already purchased the prospectus for the stake sale; the prospectus was made available for purchase on Monday. Eight companies were reported to have been interested in the contract when the news was first floated months ago, including SODIC, BPE Partners, EFG Hermes, Emaar Misr, and Orascom Development.

The management contract will have a seven-year tenor and is renewable through separate negotiations, according to Al Mal, which appears to have gotten its hands on the draft contracts. If the managing company fails to achieve its stated revenue and profit growth targets for three consecutive years (or four out of the total seven years), the contract will be annulled. The newspaper has more details on the contents. The contracted company will have to submit a bank guarantee with an initial value of EGP 50 mn that increases by 10% each year to hedge against operational risks. The 10% stake purchased as part of the agreement will also be subject to a one-year lock-up period. We’ve also provided a rundown of other key conditions that cover submission requirements and the timeline for bidders to submit their offers.

Other state companies lined up for stake sales also ready: Speaking at a conference on the public sector, Tawfik said that Alexandria Container & Cargo Handling Company and Abu Qir Fertilizers are also ready for their stake sales as part of the state privatization program, but the timing of the sales will be determined by the investment banks quarterbacking the transactions.

Meanwhile, the ministry plans to sell 182 plots of public land to the private sector and will use the proceeds to help restructure state-owned companies, Tawfik said. The sale will see the government change the land plots’ zoning to make them viable for real estate, rather than industrial, use. The government will sell the land “gradually” to avoid oversaturating the market, which is already experiencing oversupply, he said. Tawfik previously said that his ministry is working on a strategy to either rescue loss-making companies or liquidate them if they are unable to turn a profit.

In other state-owned enterprises news: The Holding Company for Construction and Development (HCCD) is planning to merge 10 of its subsidiaries into four or five companies to help improve their profitability and consolidate their lines of business, HCCD head Hisham Aboul Atta said at the conference, according to the local press. Meanwhile, the Cotton & Textile Industries Holding Company is developing six of its factories and plans to set up what will become the world’s largest spinning factories, company head Ahmed Mostafa said, according to Al Shorouk. The company had kicked off earlier this year a EUR 1 bn government-funded restructuring program to modernize Egypt’s textile industry.

Investors will welcome Amer getting a second term as CBE governor as it signals policy stability, Bloomberg says: Tarek Amer getting a second term as CBE governor is an indicator that there will be policy stability at the central bank over the next four years, a note that will be reassuring to investors, Bloomberg’s Middle East Managing Editor Alaa Shahine says (watch, runtime: 1:50). Shahine notes that despite the EGP float causing controversy in Amer’s first term, it has helped to stabilize the economy and avoid a crippling foreign currency shortage.

The CBE’s challenge for 2020? Balancing monetary easing to spur private investment without destroying Egypt’s attractiveness to the carry trade. With inflation decelerating enough to give the CBE ample room to continue cutting interest rates over the next 12 months, Shahine says foreign investors are keeping an eye on Egypt’s carry trade. Egypt’s steep inflation slowdown has kept our real interest rates among the most attractive in the world, outmatched only by Argentina, Bloomberg said earlier this month.

Looking ahead: The central bank should continue keeping inflation under control as its primary target, and develop the country’s sovereign debt market alongside the Finance Ministry, EFG Hermes economist Mohamed Abu Basha says. The recent agreement paving the way for local debt issuances to be clearable through Belgium-based clearinghouse Euroclear was an example of such a development. Abu Basha suggests the CBE should look into allowing investment banks to act as primary dealers in the sovereign debt market to attract more investors, and praised Amer’s CBE for increasing hot money inflows through treasuries.

Tharaa to tap financial advisor for combined cycle plant stake sale next week: Egyptian sovereign wealth fund Tharaa is set to select a financial advisor next week to assess the offers presented from international investors to acquire a 70% stake in the first of three Siemens / Elsewedy Electric / Orascom Construction combined-cycle power plants, Tharaa CEO Ayman Soliman tells the local press.

Who’s bidding for the stake? Six investors have expressed interest in the acquisition, which is expected to be finalized in 2020. Private equity giant Actis confirmed earlier this week it presented a letter of intent to acquire the stake, and signaled it wants a piece of the other two plants once they’re made available. Blackstone Group’s Zarou is reportedly the top contender, with France’s Engie, China Datang Overseas, and Edra Holdings also in the running. It remains unclear who the sixth investor is.

Background: Soliman said earlier this month that an agreement to sell a stake in only a single plant is expected to be finalized in less than a year. Stake sales in the other two plants would then follow. He also said that the fund is planning to acquire 30% of the plants’ equity, and offer the remaining stake to an international investor as part of its efforts to encourage foreign participation in the economy. Post-sale, the shareholders could establish a joint venture that would then sign a power purchase agreement to sell the plants’ output to the government. There are two other scenarios that the fund is looking at, including one in which it takes a 60-70% stake in the plants, leaving a minority stake for the private sector.

Education Ministry moves to soften blow of school foreign ownership cap: The Education Ministry has set up a committee that will consider investor requests for exemptions from the recently imposed 20% cap on foreign ownership of schools, minister Tarek Shawki said, according to Al Mal. Shawki said the cap will also not be applied retroactively, being limited only to stakes purchased after the cap was introduced. He added that the main reason behind the original decisions, which were announced last month for both private and international schools, is that a stake exceeding 20% gives the owner management rights under the Companies Act. Any potential school manager should therefore be screened to ensure it will protect children from “negative consequences.”

Background: The minister said last weekend that he will consider exemptions to the limits on a case-by-case basis after speculation mounted that the cap could be raised or abolished altogether in response to investor concerns. Some foreign investors have told us they have suspended plans to invest in the sector. The cap applies to all foreigners, including dual-passport holders, funds, entities, and authorities. Investors are also now required to get prior approval before offloading stakes. Private school owners have urged the ministry to rethink its plans, fearing that the restrictions will stifle foreign investment in the sector. We took a closer look at the story in the first issue of our weekly education vertical, Blackboard, earlier this month. You can read the full story here.

M&A WATCH- Rx Healthcare confirms closing United Pharma acquisition: EFG Hermes’ Rx Healthcare Fund has confirmed media reportst that it has acquired a majority stake in meds producer United Pharma, according to an emailed statement (pdf). Rx carried out the acquisition through Nutritius Investment Holdings, a special purpose vehicle established for the acquisition, the statement reads. “The transaction attracted significant interest from prominent Egyptian and Gulf investors, with proceeds being used to expand the company’s product offering to cover generic categories in underserved therapeutic areas and ramp up production for IV products.” Neither the size of the stake nor the value of the transaction were disclosed, but previous press reports had indicated Rx acquired an 80% stake for somewhere around EGP 360 mn.

Advisors: Zaki Hashem & Partners acted as legal counsel to Rx Healthcare, while auditing firm Mazars Egypt acted as buy-side financial advisor. ARC Capital was the sell-side financial advisor, and our friends at ALC were legal counsel to the sellers.

M&A WATCH- FRA orders Titan Cement to submit MTO for Alexandria Cement: The Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA) has ordered Greek cement company Titan Group to launch a mandatory tender offer (MTO) for 100% of Alexandria Portland Cement (Alexandria Cement) after it agreed to acquire the latter’s parent company, Alexandria Development, the regulator said in an EGX disclosure (pdf). By buying out 100% of the parent company, Titan is now an indirect majority owner through a related party, triggering an MTO requirement. The company announced earlier this week it had agreed to acquire the International Finance Corporation’s (IFC) minority stakes in all of its subsidiaries in Egypt and Southeast Europe in a EUR 81.8 mn transaction. The acquisition included IFC’s 17.28% stake in Alexandria Development, which in turn holds an 88.93% stake in Alexandria Cement.

Gov’t to review natgas, electricity prices for industries “within days”: The committee formed last month to revise the price at which the government sells natural gas and electricity to factories is set to meet within the next few days, Public Enterprises Minister Hisham Tawfik said, according to Al Shorouk. Prices were cut by 25% in October for cement producers, while metallurgy and ceramics manufacturers also saw their rates drop to USD 5.5 from USD 7. A new pricing scheme that would lower the price of natural gas sold to petrochemical factories is also on the way.

Parliament and industry are lobbying for even lower prices: Parliamentary sources said last week that the House Industrial Committee will push for government to cut natural gas prices for steel, aluminum, copper, ceramics, and porcelain factories. Other sources from the iron and steel and ceramics industries said they want to see deeper cuts than recommended by the committee.

Background: The government set up in October a committee to revise every six months the prices at which it sells gas to the industrial sector following repeated calls by manufacturers for lower prices.

LEGISLATION WATCH- Gov’t to consult trade unions on Public Enterprises Act amendments as committee wraps up review: The Public Enterprises Ministry is due to invite trade unions to public consultations on the proposed amendments to the Public Enterprises Act as a newly-formed committee finalizes its review, the ministry’s legal counsel Said Arafa said.

Changes to require state-owned enterprises (SOEs) to post financials, encourage them to list on stock exchange: Arafa disclosed a few new details about the current draft, including a new chapter on governance and transparency that would make it mandatory for SOEs covered by the legislation to make public their financial statements, Arafa said. The changes would also govern how JVs involving state companies will be formed and managed to promote better use of public funds, as well as give general assemblies more power to oversee the performance of company boards. Arafa also mentioned that the amendments include incentives for SOEs to go public, but did not elaborate.

Other things we know about the changes: In April local media quoted Public Enterprises Minister Hisham Tawfik saying that the amendments would remove listed companies in which the government owns a 75% stake from the legislation, and bring them within the scope of the Companies Act. The Public Enterprises Act currently applies to eight holding companies that own 121 subsidiaries in various industries and employ close to 250k workers. The legislation was first announced by Tawfik over a year ago.

What happens next? The draft changes will make their way to cabinet for approval after the committee completes its review. They will then head to the State Council (Maglis El Dawla) for a legal review and the House of Representatives for a final vote.

INVESTMENT WATCH- TCI Sanmar to invest USD 200 mn in Egypt next year: India’s TCI Sanmar Chemicals is planning to invest USD 200 mn in Egypt in 2020, Chairman PS Jayaraman told the local press. Jayaraman did not provide details on what the investments will be used for. Sanmar, which is specialized in the production of caustic soda, polyvinyl chloride, and ethylene, had said earlier this year it plans to invest USD 125 mn to expand its Port Said factory and double its production capacity of industrial chemical compounds.

MOVES- Stefano Sanchini (LinkedIn) has been appointed as regional managing director of Bridgestone Middle East and Africa, according to Hapi Journal. Sanchini will be responsible for leading Bridgestone MEA's integration with Bridgestone Europe for driving the company's strategy in the region. He has 18 years of experience in the automotive industry.

Emerging markets’ FX funding needs to repay a decade of USD-denominated debt are on track to “soar” next year, Caroline Grady writes for the Financial Times. EMs have racked up significant debts since the 2008 global financial crisis, and are scheduled to repay nearly USD 800 bn-worth of debt on foreign currency bonds and loans in 2020. The “wall of USD debt” EM countries are expected to begin repaying will undermine the positive impact of narrowing current account deficits in many of these countries, such as Turkey and Argentina. “The result: lingering currency vulnerabilities in a number of economies and reliance on ample investor appetite for EM debt,” Grady says.

This is not the first time for someone to ring the alarm on emerging markets’ rising USD-denominated debt burdens: Fitch Solutions had warned in a webinar we attended last month that EMs’ borrowing binge since the 2008 global financial crisis has created an “Achilles heel” in the form of USD-denominated debt exposure. The IMF said shortly thereafter that EM state-owned enterprises in particular are also facing a “concerning” rise in their debt burdens, which currently account for a “significant portion” of all EM debt securities.

It’s not all doom and gloom, though — expectations of a USD rally slipped last week to a five-month low, buoying investor sentiment on emerging markets, according to Bloomberg. Bond purchases in developing countries helped keep portfolio flows positive for a sixth consecutive week last week, while the MSCI index of developing countries’ currencies began picking up on hopes of a US-China trade agreement. A weaker USD should help alleviate EMs’ debt burdens, but it remains unclear to what extent.

Leading the conversation on Egypt in the foreign press this morning: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo yesterday called on the Egyptian government to end its clampdown on the press following a raid on news outlet Mada Masr earlier this week. “As part of our longstanding strategic relationship with Egypt, we continue to raise the fundamental importance of respect for human rights, universal freedoms and the need for a robust civil society,” Pompeo said at a news conference. “We call on the Egyptian government to respect freedom of the press and release journalists detained during a raid last weekend.” Mada Masr’s office was raided on Sunday by police, who seized mobile phones and laptops and briefly detained three senior members of the news outlet’s staff. (Agence-France Presse│The Week│The National│Jerusalem Post). Human Rights Watch issued a statement yesterday on the raid, and Deutsche Welle also has a story.

The Washington Post is out with two opinion pieces on the story, including an editorial that calls on Congress to use the USD 1 bn in military aid given to Egypt every year to put pressure on the government to improve its human rights record and a separate piece by Ezzedine Fishere.

Tutankhamun: The ancient Egyptian pharaoh whose legacy is a USD multi-mn industry. The global craze for Tutankhamun, ancient Egypt’s most legendary pharaoh, shows no sign of abating, years after his tomb was first discovered in 1922, Alina Cohen writes for CNN. Sell-out touring exhibitions of King Tut’s artifacts started in 1961 as a way of raising money for the preservation of archaeological sites, and have run ever since. They include an ongoing show of antiquities that has just moved to the Saatchi Gallery in London, as part of a 10-city world tour.

Issues of the ownership and repatriation of Tut-related objects remain a thorn in the side of international galleries. Egypt’s attempt earlier this year to stop Christie’s from selling a King Tut sculpture was ultimately unsuccessful, with the piece being auctioned for nearly USD 6 mn. Egypt now reportedly intends to sue Christie’s. This is just the latest in a series of disputes over antiquities and their provenance, which persist despite Egypt’s 1835 ban on other countries removing objects from its borders without approval. And while Tutankhamun’s treasures are set to find a permanent home in the Grand Egyptian Museum from 2020, the international thirst for lucrative touring exhibitions — even for replicas of the antiquities — shows no sign of ending.

The Holding Company for Spinning and Weaving is scrapping a decision from October 2018 that set a minimum price for cotton exports, company Chairman Ahmed Mostafa said, according to Al Mal. The decision led companies to claim sales at the minimum price, while charging customers different prices to remain competitive.

Private companies will be forced to participate in a new cotton auctioning mechanism that could be rolled out nationwide for the 2020/2021 harvest season, head of state-owned Cotton and Textile Industries Holding Company Ahmed Moustafa said, according to Masrawy. The public auction system was trialed in Fayoum and Beni Suef this year, and proved controversial with private companies which complained about the high prices.

German pharma company Boehringer Ingelheim’s animal health unit has launched a new vaccine in Egypt to guard against Marek’s disease (MD), a contagious virus that affects poultry, according to an emailed statement (pdf). Egypt is the first country in which the company is debuting the vaccine, where poultry flocks have seen “recurrent outbreaks of MD with increases in virus virulence.”

Emaar Misr has purchased a 500-feddan land plot in Sheikh Zayed extension for an undisclosed amount, head of the Sheikh Zayed City Development Authority Mostafa Fahmy said, according to Mubasher. A separate report from the news outlet indicates the property developer also purchased 68.5 feddans in the same area. While it remains unclear whether these are two separate pieces of land, the report suggests that the 68.5-feddan plot is the same one that Emaar had ceded ownership of earlier this year. Last we heard, Emaar was in talks with authorities over paying fees levied against the company for changing the purpose of the land plot from agriculture to housing.

Hong Kong-based hospitality management chain Swiss-Belhotel International plans to enter the Egyptian market as part of its plans to expand across the Middle East and Africa in the next three years, Hospitality Net reports. The company intends to open the Swiss-Belhotel Marseilia, Alexandria Beach, in Egypt in 2022, according to the report, which does not provide details on the expected investment value.

Egypt is in talks with a banking consortium comprised of the African Development Bank, the European Investment Bank, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development to provide funding for the USD 2.2 bn monorail linking Nasr City to the new administrative capital, Transport Minister Kamel El Wazir tells Al Mal. The African Development Bank has recently joined the consortium, replacing an unnamed British bank that dropped out from the group.

Shalakany Law Firm acted as legal counsel to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in its USD 20 mn loan for Hassan Allam Holding, the agreement for which was signed last week, according to an emailed statement.

Correction: 27 November 2019

A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that Shalakany was legal counsel to Hassan Allam.

Egyptian authorities have released over 200 people detained since September, rights lawyers said, according to the Associated Press. The detainees were released pending investigation into charges of having organized or participated in public demonstrations, which have been banned since 2013.

After a 3000 (and 3) year wait, a scan of Queen Nefertiti can be seen by the public: A 3D scan of the 3000-year-old bust of the ancient Egyptian Queen Nefertiti has finally been released, and can now be viewed by the general public, Live Science reports. Digital multimedia artist Cosmo Wenman discovered in 2016 that the museum had done a 3D scan of the bust found by archaeologists in 1912, but that access to the scan was restricted. He has reportedly spent the last three years working to access the files, using Germany’s freedom of information laws. The museum finally released the files two weeks ago, and Wenman has placed them on Thingiverse — a site for viewing and printing 3D objects — where they can be publicly accessed.