EnterprisePM — Aldar and ADQ want 90% of SODIC

Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to the tail end of hump day. Another really busy news day has kept us occupied rather than gazing longingly at the clock as we count down the hours to Apple’s launch tonight of its new crop of iPhones.

THE BIG STORIES TODAY so far-

#1- A consortium of UAE’s Aldar Ventures and sovereign wealth fund ADQ has submitted a mandatory tender offer for 90% of upmarket real estate developer SODIC, according to an ADX disclosure (pdf). The all-cash offer saw the consortium — which is 70% owned by Al Dar and 30% owned by ADQ — up its offer to EGP 20 per share from a previous range of EGP 18-19, and values SODIC at EGP 7.1 bn. The MTO is awaiting approval by the Financial Regulatory Authority, after which company shareholders will have 10-30 working days to respond.

The transaction would be great news for Egypt and the industry if it goes through, marking as it does the entry of a respected foreign strategic investor with a high competitive metabolism and proven systems.

#2- Is the Biden administration about to withhold a portion of its military aid to Egypt? That’s the contention in a Politico story out this morning that quotes an unnamed US official as saying Secretary of State Anthony Blinken plans to take the “unprecedented step” of not signing a waiver that would have allowed some USD 300 mn in military assistance to be released despite “human rights concerns,” the political news outlet noted. The story claims “some — but not most” of the funding will be withheld and that “the money that is being sent will also have restrictions on its use,” positioning the move as a “compromise” that may still “disappoint some lawmakers and activists worried” about human rights here.

#3- The Suez Canal Bank and AAIB are looking to snap up almost 90% of an EGP 323 mn maiden securitized bond issuance by EFG Hermes buy-now-pay-later platform Valu, Suez Canal Bank Chairman Hussein Rifai tells us this afternoon. The two banks submitted offers worth EGP 145 mn each. ValU, EFG Hermes’ consumer finance subsidiary, kicked off its EGP 2 bn securitization program with an EGP 323 mn bond issuance, as we noted this morning.

#4- It’s the final afternoon for EK Holding shareholders to convert the trading currency of their shares to EGP from USD — while still being allowed to collect their dividends in USD. Word in the market is that the offering has been well-received.

^^ We’ll have more on all of these stories in tomorrow’s edition of Enterprise AM

HAPPENING NOW- The newly renovated tomb of King Djoser in Saqqara is open to the public as of today. After undergoing renovation and restoration work since 2006, the tourist site was inaugurated yesterday and opened its doors to visitors today.

SMART POLICY #1- We’re officially getting a private sector minimum wage next year, with the official gazette (pdf) earlier this week publishing a decision by planning minister Hala El Said mandating a 2.4k minimum monthly wage for private sector employees as of January 2022. This is in line with public sector wage hikes: The minimum wage for public sector employees will rise to EGP 2.4k from EGP 2k from the beginning of FY2021-2022.

The Caveat: Companies who claim they can’t afford to pay the minimum wage can apply for an exception. They’ll have until October to submit a request — we hope very, very few of them are granted.

SMART POLICY #2- The government plans to use AI to manage customs and tax procedures by the start of next year, the Finance Ministry said in a statement, in a bid to improve operational efficiency and crack down on tax evasion. The Oil Ministry has also said it is looking to digitize its petrol transport process, and has already begun implementing the SCADA system to oversee transport and distribution, it said in a statement.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD- No single story has captured the imagination of the global business press. The Financial Times is looking at Amazon’s push into the healthcare industry, while CNBC is leading with Boris Johnson’s “pandemic plan for fall and winter,” which will include booster shots for folks over the age of 50. Business Insider, meanwhile, notes that Apple wants you to “update your iPhone, Mac, and Apple Watch after it fixed a software flaw that let hackers spy without anyone clicking a link.”

WAIT, WHAT? SPYWARE? Yup. Apple has pushed out an emergency software update for iPhones after they uncovered a “zero-click” ransomware attack that runs through iMessage, according to a report by University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab seen by the FT. Pegasus, a spyware tool from Israel’s NSO Group, allegedly allows hackers to access iPhones remotely without the user clicking on a malicious link, with the infections taking place “since at least February 2021.” NSO sells its exploits to governments worldwide and was the topic of controversy after Pegasus helped authorities hack the mobile phones of heads of state, diplomats and military chiefs worldwide including in Egypt. The story is everywhere from Sky New to the New York Times and TechCrunch.

How do I update my iPhone? Update iOS 14.8 can be downloaded as normal from Settings > General > Software Update and it took us around 15 minutes to install.

AFTERNOON MUST-READ: Facebook knows Instagram is toxic for teen girls, company documents show, the latest in the Wall Street Journal’s deep dive into stuff El Face would rather you didn’t know.

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** CATCH UP QUICK on the top stories from today’s EnterpriseAM:

• EGX could open the door for SPACs: Amendments to listing rules that would allow Egyptian companies to go to market by being acquired by or merging with another company are now with to the Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA) for consideration.
• Capiter raises big series A round: Cairo-based B2B e-commerce startup Capiter has raised USD 33 mn in a series A funding round co-led by Quona Capital and MSA Capital.
• Siemens could sign contracts for second, third high-speed rail lines within 2 months: The transport ministry has reportedly reached a preliminary agreement with the German conglomerate on the implementation of the second and third phases of the USD 26 bn megaproject, with Siemens expected to soon sign up to USD 6 bn in contracts.

HAPPENING TOMORROW- It’s the deadline for large taxpayers to sign up to the e-invoicing system, after which they could face punitive measures, Head of the Tax Authority Reda Abdel Kader told Al Borsa. Large taxpayers (which number at around 2.8k companies) who don’t join the system could face penalties that include inclusion in the Tax Authority’s black list and being denied basic government services.

???? CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

The UN General Assembly starts today in New York and runs through to 30 September. The general debate will take place from 20-28 September. Leaders from at least 83 countries are expected to attend in person — in contrast to last year, when the meeting was almost 100% virtual. There’s no word yet on whether President Abdel Fattah El Sisi will attend in person or virtually.

ALSO- EFG Hermes’ fourth Virtual Investor Conference continues today, running through to 21 September with the theme of “After Reflation — FEMs in 2022.”

Sahara Expo: The five-day agricultural conference continues at the Egypt International Exhibition Center through Wednesday.

LATER THIS WEEK- It’s interest rate week and all 10 analysts we polled expect the central bank to leave rates on hold for a seventh consecutive meeting when the Monetary Policy Committee meets on Thursday. Analysts pointed to the uptick in inflation and the pressure to maintain foreign inflows into Egyptian debt. Participants in a Reuters poll also expect the MPC to leave rates unchanged.

Check out our full calendar on the web for a comprehensive listing of upcoming news events, national holidays and news triggers.

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☀️ TOMORROW’S WEATHER- Temperatures will be dropping three more degrees, with a daytime high of 33°C and an overnight low of 22°C.

First, they use robots to make your life easier. Then, they figure out the robots are cheaper — and faster. And don’t complain. And don’t need to sleep. That’s the calculus that junior investment bankers in the US may soon face amid news that “Goldman Sachs, Barclays and Moelis have initiatives under way to automate basic functions such as generating pitch books and valuation modelling,” according to the Financial Times. Goldman alone “has almost 100 automation and efficiency projects under way at its investment bank. It has also developed tools that automatically update charts in presentations with the latest data so bankers do not have to edit them manually,” the salmon-colored newspaper writes, adding almost as an afterthought that “automation could also help companies cut the number of bankers they need to hire in the future, especially if they have to pay higher salaries.”

As uber-columnist Matt Levine has warned: Maybe robots can collect your bonus, too?

ALSO FROM THE WORLD OF WORK: 9-5, five days a week may be a slog, but the world of “continuous work” is definitely no better. The FT’s Sarah O’Connor goes back to the Soviet Union to marshal evidence for the notion that our WFH experiment may have a downside. More recently: “workers reported more time with their families, but also an increase in working hours and blurred boundaries between paid work and personal life.” Read: We are creeping towards a continuous working week.

Canon has unveiled its EOS R3 mirrorless camera, a 24MP full-frame beast aimed at news, wildlife and sports photographers. You can check out the initial review at DPReview, see what Chris and Jordan have to say on DPReviewTV, or catch part one of Camera Labs’ in-depth review here. Canon’s advert is here and you can watch the full launch event here (watch, runtime: 40:39).

Google has been slapped with a USD 177 mn fine by South Korea for blocking customized versions of its Android OS. South Korea’s antitrust regulators accused Google of abusing Android’s market dominance and restricting other competition in the mobile market, according to Reuters. The news comes on the heels of South Korea’s move to force Apple and Google to allow third-party payments in their app stores. Bloomberg also has the story.

The US and EU are looking to broker a global agreement to “slash planet-warming methane,” Reuters reports in an exclusive that claims the two powers have narrowed down over two dozen countries that they will approach to sign the agreement including China, Russia, India, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, Norway, Qatar, Britain, New Zealand and South Africa. Methane is the second-biggest cause of climate change after CO2, and its short atmospheric lifetime means that “taking action now can rapidly reduce the rate of global warming,” according to documents the news service saw.

SOUND SMART- The OECD is looking to set a global carbon border tax to prevent trade wars between countries with different green policies, reports the Financial Times. The EU already has taxes in the works to impose on imports from heavier polluting countries, but these taxes are often protested by other nations who see them as trade tariffs. Under the OECD plan, a “reasonable” price for each commodity will be set globally such as steel and cement. It is unclear whether all countries will be on board, with the US, China and India preferring to stick to domestic regulations. A price tag on carbon is one of the best ways to lower fossil fuel emissions as polluters are taxed for their environmental footprint locally and internationally.

IN GLOBAL COVID NEWS-

Stop us if you’ve heard this story before: COVID-19 cases in southeast China have more than doubled as Delta spreads, warns Reuters, “prompting officials to quickly roll out measures including travel restrictions to halt the spread of the virus.”

Booster shots are not necessary for most people, according to a review published in medical journal the Lancet yesterday, which contends that the science has so far shown vaccines to be reliably effective without the need for top-ups. The authors echoed previous statements from the World Health Organization (WHO) by implying that jabs would do more good in the arms of the still-unvaccinated at home and abroad, writing that “Even if boosting were eventually shown to decrease the medium-term risk of serious disease, current vaccine supplies could save more lives if used in previously unvaccinated populations than if used as boosters in vaccinated populations.”

Pharma shares fall: BioNTech, Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca shares all tumbled on the news, with BioNTech US depositary receipts falling as much as 7.7% in their biggest intraday decline in a month. The findings will also raise awkward questions for the US and other western governments already planning a rollout of booster shots in the fall.

Pfizer and BioNTech are donating vaccines to Lebanon and Jordan to help vaccinate refugees, Bloomberg reports. A shipment of 100k jabs arrived in Beirut on Monday, while the two countries will receive a combined total of 600k doses before the end of this year to vaccinate their large refugee populations, many of whom are Syrian. Refugees and asylum seekers globally have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic, while the virus’ spread among refugees already facing extreme poverty in Lebanon has been described as “a crisis within a crisis.”

???? ON THE TUBE TONIGHT-

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It’s a big day for iSheep: Apple is holding a virtual event at 7pm CLT where we can expect a new iPhone, new AirPods and probably a new watch. The event will run for two hours, and you can stream it here. You’ll probably need to wait for one or more virtual events later this fall to see a new iPad, iPad Mini and, most interestingly, the hotly anticipated new MacBook Pros running on souped-up Apple silicon.

Possibly Kate Winslet’s best performance, Mare of Easttown follows a small-town detective who investigates a local murder. As the investigation continues, accusations are made and doubts cast over the innocence of everyone, including her own friends and family. The mini series will keep you on the edge of your seat, though there was perhaps too much going on in just seven episodes. Despite its many twists and turns, the show is still well-paced, with a mind-blowing finale and a closure that will keep you satisfied. Winslet’s performance shines through in this gritty role that demonstrates her range as an actress. We’re rooting for the show at the Emmys next Monday, where it has been nominated for 16 awards including outstanding limited series and outstanding actress in a limited series. You can watch it now on OSN play.

⚽The UEFA Champions League is returning this evening with two matches kicking off at 6:45 pm: Young Boys vs Man Utd and Sevilla against RB Salzburg.

Six other matches start at 9:00 pm with Barcelona taking on Bayern Munich, Chelsea kicking off against Zenit, Villarreal playing Atalanta, Dynamo Kyiv facing Benfica, Lille looking to get past Wolfsburg, and Malmö vs. Juventus.

????EAT THIS TONIGHT-

Dirt cake meets cookie dough: LA’s Dirty Cookie has set up shop in New Cairo’s Garden 8. Combining the nostalgia of milk and cookies for kids, with a night out on the town for adults, their edible cookie shots are a treat for all ages, with offerings including red velvet, churros, Lotus, chocolate chip, double chocolate, white chocolate, cheesecake cookies, and jelly cookies. The marshmallow Fluff was definitely our favorite filling while we nibbled on those cookie shots. They also serve homemade ice cream that is just as good.

IS THERE SOME PLACE YOU LOVE? Want to share it with the rest of the community? If you’ve eaten something recently that has tickled your taste buds and would like us to feature it, send us an email on editors@enterprise.press.

???? OUT AND ABOUT-

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It’s day five of the CIB Egyptian Squash Open today: There are four matches on today between 6:15 and 8:30 PM CLT, with the final set to be played on Friday 17 September. You can find the schedule here.

Art D’Égypte is kicking off tomorrow, bringing to life its vision of a “Cairo International Art District” within 12 historic spaces in Downtown Cairo. The city-wide series of exhibitions will showcase contemporary art, solo and group projects by up and coming Egyptian as well as international artists. Exhibitions will be open daily from 15 September to 27 October, from 12:00 PM to 4:00 PM and 5:00 PM to 9:00 PM, except for Thursdays.

???? UNDER THE LAMPLIGHT-

In the third and last installment of her “living autobiography” — Real Estate — author Deborah Levy seeks the true meaning of home while she travels between London, New York, Mumbai and Paris in the lead up to her 60th birthday. The trilogy — which begins with Things I Don’t Want to Know (2013) and continues with The Cost of Living (2018) — has been described by the author as a living autobiography as its installments are written in the thick of life’s events, rather than in hindsight. The trilogy began as an answer to George Orwell’s 1946 essay “Why I Write,” and evolved into a poignant reflection on family, womanhood, and writing as craft. On the unusual title, Levy tells the Financial Times, “I suppose what I most value are real humans and imagination. It is possible we cannot have one without the other . . . in this sense, my books are my real estate.”

OUR ANALYST OF THE WEEK- Aya Samy, senior investment analyst at Misr Capital (Linkedin).

My name is Aya Samy and I feel very lucky that I started my career on the buy-side. It enhanced my experience and knowledge by putting me in a position where I was forced to learn everything about the sectors I covered. I graduated from Ain Shams Faculty of Commerce English, and began my career as an investment analyst in Mubasher, where I stayed for three years. I then moved to Ostoul Capital as a sell-side analyst before landing my current position at Misr Capital. We work the same way any analyst would, but don’t publish our reports publicly instead keeping them for Banque Misr’s portfolio and investment managers. I’m also not sector specific, which I enjoy more as it gives me more exposure to the market.

My favorite sector to cover is consumers. The names are recognizable to me and I can see the dynamics on the ground. Other sectors are harder to cover as they have limited data — which is something that affects my coverage by not giving me a clear picture. At the end of the day, each sector is quite different in terms of how one should analyze and judge it.

The best part of my job is there’s always more to learn and know. Sometimes I think that ‘khalas I know everything about this sector’, but then you find a new thread that leads to undiscovered territory. When I’m out with friends, whether they work in petrochem or finance, I realize that I know certain details and dynamics about their sectors, which makes me feel good about myself.

The worst part of my job is the same as everyone else… the stress [laughs]. Markets move so quickly and you have to be fast. Covering different sectors also means that I need to keep up with what seems like every new development in the news. I’ve started doing yoga and meditation to manage my stress. It helps keep my anxiety down and keep me grounded.

My theory of investment is to go for quality names that have room to grow, especially if they have reasonable valuations. Quality is proven historically so you can predict firms’ behavior. And of course, fundamentals are always key. Even if it’s not an immediate result, when you move based on fundamentals, the market will eventually correct itself and give you a return.

Sometimes I like to pick a theme that fits the macro picture, and invest based on that. If there’s a certain development happening in the news such as subsidies to a certain sector or if there’s a push by the state to develop a sector, I bet that it will affect firms’ valuations. Most of the time it does actually materialize.

One of the most important factors we look at before recommending an investment has recently become ESGs. In the past few years, we’ve been constantly applying ESGs in our investment criteria and assessing how compliant firms are by giving them ranks and scores. This came as international investors started increasingly giving weight to the environmental and social impacts of companies as well as their governance standards.

I think 2022 could be the year of Egypt on both the macro and capital markets front. There’s a lot of pent-up investment demand that will materialize once the uncertainty of the situation fades a bit. However, I can’t really say how the EGX30 will perform for the rest of the year. There’s a definite recovery after last year’s impact from the pandemic and the factors point to more recovery going forward. This last earnings season really highlighted this, with a ton of companies reporting great financials. Other good indicators are forecasted positive economic growth, the vaccine rollouts progressing, and the resumption of tourism.

I’m more of a numbers person. I just know how to work with them better.

The last great thing I watched was Behind Her Eyes. The plot was very surprising and kept me hooked. I’m more of a movie person though and my favorites are Good Will Hunting, Pretty Woman, Eat Pray Love. I think you can see a pattern forming… I’m very much into the classics.

The last great thing I read is Paper Palace. I honestly picked it up randomly because it was a New York Times Bestseller, but I enjoyed how it explored a life changing decision.

When I’m not on the clock, I love to cook and style food. I always imagine being a food blogger and getting to taste items off all of the new menus in Egypt. When I travel, I’m always on the hunt for new and authentic food from each country.

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State-owned Egyptian Chemical Industries (Kima) reported losses of EGP 1.33 bn during 2Q2021, according to a company release (pdf). That’s about on par with the EGP 1.35 bn in red ink on the bottom line in the same quarter last year and came despite a 443% rise in revenues to EGP 1.4 bn in 2Q2021 from EGP 315 mn in the comparable period last year.

MARKET WATCH-

The EGX30 rose 0.4% at today’s close on turnover of EGP 1.7 bn (9.8% above the 90-day average). Regional investors were net buyers. The index is up 3.1% YTD.

In the green: Elsewedy Electric (+6.4%), TMG (+3.5%) and Pioneers Holding (+3.3%).

In the red: EKH (-1.5%), Rameda (-1.4%) and Speed Medical (-1.2%).

10-17 September (Friday-Friday): CIB Egyptian Squash Open, Giza.

12-15 September (Sunday-Wednesday): Sahara Expo: the 33rd International Agricultural Exhibition for Africa and the Middle East.

13-21 September (Monday-Tuesday): EFG Hermes’ fourth Virtual Investor Conference.

14-30 September (Tuesday-Thursday): 76th session of the UN General Assembly, New York.

15 September (Wednesday): The CFO Leadership & Strategy Summit is taking place in Egypt.

16 September (Thursday): The CBE’s Monetary Policy Committee will meet to review interest rates.

18 September (Saturday): Expiration of United Nations Investigative Team to Promote Accountability for Crimes Committed by Daesh/ISIL

21-22 September (Tuesday-Wednesday): The Federal Reserve meets to review interest rates.

22-25 September (Wednesday-Saturday): Cityscape Egypt, Egypt International Exhibition Center, Cairo, Egypt.

29 September (Wednesday): DevOpsDays Cairo 2021 is being organized by ITIDA and the Software Engineering Competence Center in cooperation with DXC Technology, IBM Egypt and Orange Labs.

30 September-2 October (Thursday-Saturday): Egypt Projects 2021 expo, Egypt International Exhibition Center, Cairo, Egypt.

30 September-8 October (Thursday-Friday): The Cairo International Fair, Cairo International Conference Center, Cairo, Egypt.

30 September: Closing of 2021’s first oil and gas tender in the Gulf of Suez, Western Desert, and the Mediterranean.

30 September (Thursday): First tranche of overdue subsidy payouts will be handed to eligible exporters.

October: New legislative session begins — must be held by the first Thursday of October.

October: Romanian President Klaus Iohannis could visit Egypt in mid this month to discuss ways to boost tourism cooperation between the two countries.

1 October (Friday): Businesses importing goods at seaports will need to file shipping documents and cargo data digitally to the Advance Cargo Information (ACI) system.

1 October (Friday): Expo 2020 Dubai opens.

1 October (Friday): State-owned companies and government service bodies selling goods and services to customers that have not yet signed on to the e-invoicing platform will suffer a host of penalties, including removal from large taxpayer classification, losing access to government services and business, and losing subsidies.

6 October (Wednesday): Armed Forces Day.

7 October (Thursday): National holiday in observance of Armed Forces Day.

9 October (Saturday): Public schools begin 2021-2022 academic year

11-17 October (Monday-Sunday): IMF + World Bank Annual Meetings.

12-14 October (Tuesday-Thursday): Mediterranean Offshore Conference, Alexandria, Egypt.

18 October (Monday): Prophet’s Birthday.

21 October (Thursday): National holiday in observance of the Prophet’s Birthday.

24-28 October (Sunday-Thursday) Cairo Water Week, Cairo, Egypt.

27-28 October (Wednesday-Thursday) Intelligent Cities Exhibition & Conference, Royal Maxim Palace Kempinski, Cairo, Egypt.

28 October (Thursday): The CBE’s Monetary Policy Committee will meet to review interest rates.

28 October (Thursday): Second tranche of overdue subsidy payouts will be handed to eligible exporters.

30 October – 4 November (Saturday-Thursday): The first edition of Race The Legends, Egypt.

November: The French-Egyptian Business Forum is set to take place in the Suez Canal Economic Zone.

November: Egypt will host another round of talks to reach a potential Egyptian-Eurasian trade agreement, which can significantly contribute to increasing the volume of Egyptian exports to the Russia-led bloc that includes Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.

1-3 November (Monday-Wednesday): Egypt Energy exhibition on power and renewable energy, Egypt International Exhibition Center, Cairo, Egypt.

2-3 November (Tuesday-Wednesday): The Federal Reserve meets to review interest rates.

1-12 November (Monday-Friday): 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26), Glasgow, United Kingdom.

16-17 November (Tuesday-Wednesday): Africa fintech summit, Cairo.

26 November-5 December (Friday-Sunday): The 43rd Cairo International Film Festival.

29 November-2 December (Monday-Thursday): Egypt Defense Expo, Egypt International Exhibition Centre.

7-8 December (Tuesday-Wednesday): North Africa Trade Finance Summit.

12-14 December (Sunday-Tuesday): Food Africa Cairo trade exhibition, Egypt International Exhibition Center, Cairo, Egypt.

13-17 December: United Nations Convention against Corruption, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.

14-19 December (Tuesday-Sunday): The Cairo International Festival for Experimental Theater.

14-15 December (Tuesday-Wednesday): The Federal Reserve meets to review interest rates.

16 December (Thursday): The CBE’s Monetary Policy Committee will meet to review interest rates.

14-16 February 2022 (Monday-Wednesday): Egypt Petroleum Show, Egypt International Exhibition Center, New Cairo, Egypt.

1H2022: The World Economic Forum annual meeting, location TBD.

22-24 April 2022: World Bank-IMF spring meeting, Washington D.C.

May 2022: Investment in Logistics Conference, Cairo, Egypt

16 June 2022 (Thursday): End of 2021-2022 academic year for public schools

27 June-3 July 2022 (Monday-Sunday): World University Squash Championships, New Giza.

**Note to readers: Some national holidays may appear twice above. Since 2020, Egypt has observed most mid-week holidays on Thursdays regardless of the day on which they fall and may also move those days to Sundays. We distinguish below between the actual holiday and its observance.