Dahy subs-in for Oil Minister Ismail. Emaar Misr retail offering is 36x oversubscribed. Private equity eyes MENA healthcare opportunities. Moody’s is down on Egypt budget. Fertilizer companies can’t export. Foreign funds go slow on KSA. New Harry Potter on stage in 2016.

WHAT WE’RE TRACKING TODAY

Talks on a nuclear agreement with Tehran have resumed, with a deadline of 30 June 2015 for a comprehensive agreement. Writing for Bloomberg View, Josh Rogin claims Vice President Joe Biden’s national security adviser Colin Kahl says the real deadline is 9 July.

A new Harry Potter story is coming, but it will be a stage play, not a novel. “I’m also very excited to confirm today that a new play called Harry Potter and the #CursedChild will be opening in London next year,” author J.K. Rowling tweeted this weekend on the eighteenth anniversary of the publication of “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.” The play, going up at the West End’s Palace Theater in summer 2016, will be a new story, but not a prequel. Its website is already up, but has little in the way of concrete information.

Okay, so, when can we eat? Maghreb will be at 7:01pm today, while fajr will be at 3:11am, according to Islamic Finder.

WHAT WE’RE TRACKING THIS WEEK

Shares in Emaar Misr are due to begin trading on 2 July. The Egyptian retail offering of its IPO was 36x oversubscribed, traders told Reuters. The company offered 90 mn shares in the retail tranche, generating demand of EGP 3.23 bn. 510 mn shares have been allocated to institutional investors, with that offering 11x oversubscribed. Mohamed El Dahan, the company’s CEO, told Amwal Al Ghad Emaar Misr had generated EGP 2 bn in sales and EGP 751.5 mn in revenues during 1Q2015. EFG Hermes and JP Morgan are the joint global coordinators and joint bookrunners for the transaction, which is now winning international attention in the Wall Street Journal.

Greeks will go to the polls a week from today (5 July) in a snap referendum on whether to accept the European Central Bank  / IMF / European Commission’s take it or leave it proposal. Announcing the referendum, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras accused the institutions of “blackmail.” Check out his speechhere. Eurozone finance ministers have refused to extend a bailout deadline beyond Tuesday. Politico, newly expanded to the EU, suggests that pure politics is at play: “As any politician, the Greek PM wants to stay in power. And his best chance of doing so may be to let Greece leave the euro.”

LAST NIGHT’S TALK SHOWS

Amr Adeeb focused a sizeable segment of his program on the meeting this weekend between President Abdel Fattah El Sisi and the board members of the Tahya Misr fund and attended by members of the Egyptian media. Adeeb noted that Yaseen Mansour of the Mansour Group has pledged to donate EGP 25 mn for the inaugural celebrations of the opening of the Suez Canal project scheduled for 6 August.

Adeeb then received a call-in from Naguib Sawiris, one of the aforementioned board members. When Adeeb asked Sawiris if he’d be willing to invest a possible project along the Suez Canal zone, Sawiris replied that he would first need to see feasibility studies, and that he was frankly skeptical that such studies existed. Asked why there was such lethargy in government execution of projects post the EEDC, Sawiris replied that the system is tilted toward paralysis of the honest and the rewarding of the corrupt. Sawiris says one reason corruption is endemic is that for the most part, corrupt officials are willing to get things done, albeit for bribes. Honest civil servants on the other hand, he said, are terrified of taking a decision and putting their names to anything out of fear of future legal liability. Sawiris advocated for legislation to protect civil servants from honest mistakes would encourage them to be more confident and assertive in their decision making.

Following the call and commentary on some other news of the day, Adeeb spent a few moments criticizing the attempt on Friday to set a Guinness World record for the largest iftar table in Alexandria which went awry, due to a larger-than-expected turnout and the public nature of the event, with Adeeb saying that the table was stretched out over 4 km of the Alexandria corniche. Adeeb criticized the frivolous nature of the attempt in the first place, flying in the face of his previous statements that pursuing such food-based Guinness records was good for Egypt’s public image.

Magdy El Galad on CBC Extra rehashed the same coverage which Adeeb ran on the board meeting of the Tahya Misr Fund, minus the personality and visual evidence of a neck or an actual physical body occupying El Galad’s suit.

Another lackluster night of Egyptian talk shows is capped off by a recent piece in FT by Heba Saleh on Thursday which quotes Ipsos as estimating that viewership of political talk shows in Egypt falling by over 50% due to viewers finding the programs monotonous.

** READ ENTERPRISE IN ARABIC **

The beta edition of Enterprise Arabic is now available. Sign up here without charge.

SPEED ROUND

Transport Minister Hany Dahy will stand in for Oil Minister Sherif Ismail, taking charge of the ministry until Ismail returns to Egypt from a trip abroad, as per a statement from Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab’s office. The brief statement from the PMO did not cite a reason for Ismail’s travels or give an expected date of return; Al Borsa quotes unnamed government sources as saying Ismail is abroad to receive medical treatment.

Private equity eyes Egypt, North Africa healthcare opportunities: In her latest for the FT, Heba Saleh chronicles new interest in healthcare across North Africa, a sector in which the UAE’s Abraaj Capital has been the pathfinding investor. Abraaj’s Ahmed Badreldin says the firm is looking at opportunities spanning North Africa, all “markets that do not have institutional corporate companies that operate hospitals and which bring best practice, synergies and efficient management teams.” The piece also quotes Actis and EFG Hermes, both of which have an interest in the sector. As we noted back in March, healthcare is also on the agenda for Carlyle. Oh, and speaking of Abraaj: Founder and CEO Arif Naqvi was awarded the 2015 BNP Paribas Prize for Individual Philanthropy in recognition of his founding of the Aman Foundation, a family foundation.

Moody’s is down on the 2015-16 state budget: The next state budget “hints at a slower fiscal consolidation pace than projected under the government’s Medium-Term Macroeconomic Policy Framework, and the government’s pre-budget statement for fiscal 2016, which estimated a budget deficit of 9.6 percent of GDP,” Moody’s says, prompting the ratings agency to call the document “credit negative.” Missing the deficit target, it says, “will translate into a smaller reduction of Egypt’s already high government debt and keep the government’s gross borrowing needs precariously high for a longer period.” Reuters tagged its Thursday MENA market roundup with the report, which is making the rounds of the domestic English-language presshere and here. For Moody’s subscribers, the direct link to the report is here.

Is another wave of fuel price hikes in the offing? There’s no sign of a price increase on the order of that imposed last year — not in the 2015-16 state budget itself, not in a separate statement from EGPC — but that’s not stopping analysts from suggesting the Mahlab government will need to implement further price hikes if its fiscal reform program is to make headway. Ahram Online’s Amal Mahmoud has a solid take this morning.

Fertilizer companies won’t be exporting after natural gas cutoff: The Ministry of Agriculture has stopped issuing export permits to private-sector fertilizer producers, Al Borsa reports. A Ministry official said the decision came as companies failed to deliver the contracted quantities to the state to be used on summer crops. A source at MOPCO said the decision is not expected to have a significant effect as the plant’s production has stopped completely with natural gas supplies stopping. Al Borsa also noted that EGAS decided to halt all natural gas supplies to eight energy-intensive fertilizer producers until the end of Ramadan. A source said gas will be diverted to power stations in order to ensure that any power cuts remain minimal. As we noted last week, steel producers have also been cut off from the natural gas grid, according to Chamber of Metallurgical Industries chief Mohamed Hanafy.

The three vice presidents at Telecom Egypt were booted because of their refusal to reduce the pricing structure for ISPs using the company’s network infrastructure, a source told Amwal Al Ghad. The three are Ahmed Ossama, Tamer Gabballah, and Sayed El Gharabawy. The sources added that their removal from decision making posts at TE comes due to a conflict of interest given that they are also executives at TE Data and that they (surprise, surprise) are putting their company’s best interest ahead of the market’s as a whole. The executive positions at the company will be reshuffled this week, a source added. On the other hand, a source told Al Masry Al Youm that TE executive filed a court case claiming that the appointment of new CEO Ossama Yassin was in violation of the company’s bylaws, which bars the appointment of a chief executive who is over 60 years old without the approval of the general assembly. Looking for an overview of the telecom sector, fixed and mobile alike? The always-prescient Amira Salah-Ahmed has what you need over at Mada Masr.

“Egypt is holding the highest number of journalists behind bars since record keeping began, using the pretext of national security to crack down on press freedoms,” says the Committee to Protect Journalists. At least 18 journalists are being held in jail for reasons related to their reporting — the most since CPJ began recording data in 1990. Commenting on the report in a pickup by Reuters, a government source said the “numbers are not accurate and this report is not objective.” CPJ added that the “threat of imprisonment in Egypt is part of an atmosphere in which authorities pressure media outlets to censor critical voices and issue gag orders on sensitive topics” adding that “journalism is over in the Sinai… The only reporting we can do is [to] tell the army’s story. Anything else is a prison wish.” The Guardian picks up the same ball and runs with it in “How Egyptian media has become a mouthpiece for the military state.”

EGAS announced it “will carry out the largest seismic oil and gas exploration project in the Mediterranean, seeking data that could attract global exploration companies,” Reuters reported. The state gas board signed an agreement “with Norwegian seismic surveyor PGS to conduct two and three-dimensional scans in the western zone of Egypt’s territorial Mediterranean water” as part of a plan to increase Egypt’s domestic gas production.

Infrastructure work for new administrative capital continue: The Housing Ministry will extend roads and water and sewage pipe networks to the site of the proposed new administrative capital, despite reports that the MoU signed regarding the project being cancelled, a source told Al Borsa. The source noted that the MoU is not cancelled officially but rather it is now considered frozen. Other sources at the Housing Ministry refused to comment on the status of the agreement to Amwal Al Ghad.

“Slow start after Saudis open stock market to foreigners,” reads the Reuters headline, which focuses on U.S. fund managers, who have basically told the newswire, “We’re interested, but we’re in no real rush.” Topping the list of concerns is what fund managers believe is a lack of information about the market — and about the process for becoming a qualified foreign investor.

Iran behind ‘Saudi Leaks’ + Did KSA officials help Hussein Salem smuggle in 2011? The Washington Post says cybersecurity experts believe “the purported theft of confidential Saudi documents that have been released by WikiLeaks bears the hallmarks of Iranian hackers linked to cyberattacks in more than a dozen countries.” As we noted last week, WikiLeaks has dumped out some 70,000 of an estimated 500,000 documents (you can browse them here). Iran’s involvement almost certainly means there is misinformation masquerading as leaks among the documents, but most of the stories published so far smack of the truth. As we noted Thursday, Mada Masr has received an exclusive trove of documents from WikiLeaks as one of its regional publishing partners. The site has already published its first take, penned by veteran journalists Hossam Bahgat and Lina Attalah, digging into cables that appear to back assertions that senior Saudi officials helped smuggle valuables out of Egypt in 2011 for Hussein Salem, a Mubarak confidante, natural gas mogul and reported arms vendor.

We’re not alone in loving France: Politico notes that France’s Rafale fighter jet and naval procurement programs are booking orders across the Arab world as “Gulf states are signing defense contracts with Paris to express their discontent with American policies in the wake of the Iran nuclear negotiations.” Egypt and Qatar have made Rafale orders, and the UAE could be next; Saudi and Egypt have both purchased French naval vessels.

The world in 2050: Quartz picks up an Economist Intelligence Unit report that notes that while workforces in Africa, the Middle East and Asia will continue to grow into 2050, those in developed nations will shrink to the point that the world’s workforce will begin shrinking 35 years from now. “Asia will be home to over half the world’s economic growth [by 2050] and … China’s economy will surpass America’s in 2026.” The EUI report is available for download without charge, but requires registration

More than 60 people were killed and over 250 injured in terrorist attacks in Tunisia, Kuwait and France this past Friday. In Tunisia, a lone gunman killed 39 tourists and wounded 38 others before police shot him dead on the beachside resort Imperial Marhaba in Sousse, south of the capital Tunis, on Friday, reportedReuters. The attack was claimed by Daesh. A suicide bombing in Kuwait targeted the Shi’a-affiliated Al Sadiq mosque during Friday prayers killing, 27 and injuring at least 227 others. The attack was claimed by both Daesh and a Daesh affiliate called Najd Province. In France, a man “under surveillance for radical Islamist activities since 2006” rammed his car into a gas factory in Saint-Quentin-Fallavier, south east of Lyon, causing an explosion that left two injured. His boss, however, was found decapitated in the car, and his head — alongside flags with “Arabic inscriptions” — was reportedly posted at a gate, BBC said. For more color, Time explains why the terror attacks might not be connected, and why that may be even more worrying.

Ittihadiya issued a statement condemning “the attacks on a Shiite mosque in Kuwait, two hotels in Sousse, Tunisia and a gas production plant in France … Egypt affirms that it stands with those countries that suffer from the scourge of terrorism … which knows no boundaries or religions. Its reach has extended to claim the lives of innocent civilians, destroy various treasures of human civilization without respect for places of worship or vital facilities.” El Sisi held a meeting with Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby and Armed Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Mahmoud Hegazy on Saturday to discuss security issues and the joint Arab force, says Al-Ahram, giving the separate meeting readout from Ittihadiya front-page play this morning.

The U.S. Supreme Court has extended the right to marry to all couples; an updated map of nations recognizing marriage equality is here. For your daily dose of irony, check out Mona El-Iraqi’s twitter feed. The TV “personality” was among those celebrating the SCOTUS decision and using the #LoveWins tag. Regular readers will recall El-Iraqi spurred police into a televised raid on a downtown Cairo establishment allegedly popular with men seeking the companionship of a certain form — leading to weeks of negative publicity for Egypt. Check out her initial tweet and the reaction to it.

Feeling over-the-hill in your 40s? Al-Borsa apparently feels your pain, summarizing in Arabic Business Insider’s recent listicle “24 people who became highly successful after age 40”.

EGYPT IN THE NEWS

The AP’s “Egypt blanketed by sandstorm and shaken by earthquake on the same day” was among the top headlines on Egypt heading into this morning: “Egypt faced treacherous weather conditions Saturday as a sandstorm blanketed the north of the country and a magnitude-5.2 earthquake centered in the Sinai peninsula shook buildings more than 200 miles away in the capital, Cairo.” No injuries or damage were reported in the wake of the earthquake, which registered at 5.2 on the Richter scale an hour and a half before iftar yesterday, according to Ahram Online.

“Years of revolt, turmoil haunt Egypt’s children”: AP photojournalist Hamada Elrasam has been chipping away for a year at his photo essay, which notes “The grief touches children of all kinds in this country, cutting across Christian and Muslim families, the sons of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group to the daughters of police officers and soldiers.” The story has been widely picked up by North American media. You can read the accompanying text here (also home to the best mobile view of the images we could find). If you’re on tablet / laptop / desktop, check out the images here to appreciate higher-resolution views of the images.

Ramadan television series The Jewish Quarter continues to receive media attention, most recently by NPR‘s Leila Fadel: “At this point the writer of the series, Medhat el-Adl, says he’s sick of all the talk. ‘I want to say to everyone, to the TV and the newspapers, please let me enjoy my success,’” he says.

One of the last-remaining of Egypt’s Jews, 85-year old Albert Arie, is quoted by both the AFP and Ahram Online on his take of the show. From the AFP piece: “The set makes no sense. It shows rich houses while Haret al-Yahud was a jumble of alleys, with old houses and houses that collapsed,” recalled Arie, who was jailed for 11 years for his activism. Despite the inaccuracies, however, he acknowledged the fact that the series showed “a positive image of the Jew, who is no longer a [redacted].” (Read in AFP or Arutz Sheva)

WORTH READING

Egypt could be key to avoiding another war between Hamas and Israel, say two former diplomats — one American, one Palestinian — now plying their trade as analysts at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. “Egypt — respected by Israel, feared by Hamas and needed by Abbas — is well positioned to lead.” Read “The key to averting another Gaza war? Egypt.” in the Washington Post.

***
A MESSAGE FROM PHAROS HOLDING

EGAS cuts-off natural gas supply to steel mills until further notice

The shut-off of natural gas to steel factories until further notice is disastrous news for Ezz Steel, one of Egypt’s three largest steel producers. In announcing the news, Chamber of Metallurgical Industries chief Mohamed Hanafy also noted that direct reduced iron facilities had totally halted production several months ago. The news is perfectly consistent with our views on exceptionally dim sector dynamics that have seen producers hammered not just by energy shortages, but by low prices in market. In fact, producers have announced a series of price cuts over the last two months despite protection from anti-dumping tariff barriers.

With no sign of resolution on the Egyptian energy front and prices driven down globally by the slump in Chinese demand, click here to read more on the outlook for Ezz Steel and Al Ezz Al Dekhela (EZDK), the group’s most-profitable and -integrated facility.
***

WORTH WATCHING

Saudi Arabia’s most prominent comedian, Nasser al-Qasabi, the longtime host of comedic Ramadan series Tash ma Tash, returns this year with an ambitious new program titled Selfie, providing a critical-yet-comical look at some of the most pressing concerns in the region. He made it all the way to episode two before receiving his first death threats.

The episode in question, “The Devil’s Egg,” is a tragicomedy that follows a father played by Al-Qasabi who travels from Saudi Arabia to Syria on a quest to find his Daeshi son and bring him home.

Reuters notes: “In a typical response from a supporter of the militants, a Twitter user named Jalabeeb al-Jizrawi wrote to Al Qasabi: ‘I swear to god you will regret what you did, you apostate.’”

“The holy warriors will not rest until they cut your head from your body, in just a few days hopefully,” he wrote in a post that was retweeted over 3,000 times. But other media figures in the Middle East have declared themselves fans. “For many years, (news networks) al Jazeera and al Arabiya have aired ISIS filth and no one reacted against it,” Shams, a Kuwaiti singer, tweeted to her almost half a mn followers. “But in twenty minutes, ‘Selfie’ gave the Islamic nation a wake up call,”she said. CNN also has a report on the story, but we should warn you that the article spoils the ending of the episode.

Watch a preview from the first part of the episode, where Al Qasabi is about to be dropped off by the Syrian with whom he hitchhiked:
Syrian: “Here’s where we part ways; I can’t go any further with you. I’m going to drop you off here. If you walk for 15 minutes, you’ll reach a place called Execution of Hypocrites Square.”

Al Qasabi: “Execution of Hypocrites Square?”

Syrian: “Execution of Hypocrites Square.” (Watch in Arabic, running time: 1 minute, 40 seconds)

(Watch Selfie: The Devil’s Egg, Pt. 1, running time: 46:35)
(Watch Selfie: The Devil’s Egg, Pt. 2, running time: 43:07)

WHAT YOU CLICKED ON LAST WEEK

The most-clicked links in Enterprise during the week of 14 June were:

• Osama Bishai remains CEO of Orascom Construction, stepped down from Orascom Construction Industries (company statement)
• Fox Chips ‘I can see the future’ ad, since pulled after pressure from the Consumer Protection Agency (Youtube)
• Generation Hels: Why that Nestle Crunch ad hit such a nerve (Enterprise)
• Why are Coke and Pepsi absent from the airwaves as Ramadan gets underway? (Al-Mal)
• World Bank Group Spring 2015 Egypt Economic Monitor (World Bank, pdf) (tie)
• Emaar Misr early-look investor presentation (Emaar Misr, pdf) (tie)

DIPLOMACY

Following the release of the US State Department’s 2014 Human Rights report on Thursday, (find the section on Egypt here), the MFA released a statement on Friday condemning the report for allegedly containing “a series of errors and exaggerations concerning the human rights situation in Egypt,” and that “it did not fully outline the efforts exerted by the Egyptian government to improve the situation of human rights, improve labor conditions, pursue women’s development and combat corruption.” The MFA’s statement concludes with: this report on human rights … has no value to other countries and … countries should rather focus on their own internal affairs and try to fix them.”

Speaking of Amreeka: US Secretary of State John Kerry “is looking forward to meeting soon with President [Abdel Fattah El Sisi] to discuss new ideas for pushing forward peace efforts in the Middle East.” The comment came during a call between the two on Thursday in which they talked about what appears to be new momentum to bring Israel and Palestine to the table — traditional in the final months of a two-term U.S. president, we’d argue. The two also touched on Egypt’s view that while Cairo supports UN Special Representative for Libya Bernardino Léon’s efforts to reach a political settlement to the Libyan crisis, “counter-terrorism efforts should go hand in hand with efforts for a political settlement,” with the Libyan Army and Cairo-backed parliament playing a key role in any settlement. Other topics included Yemen and preparations for the 28-29 July strategic dialogue between the two sides.

The Cypriot Initiative: President Abdel Fattah El Sisi was on the phone with Cypriot president Nicos Anastasiades for the third time in as many weeks, according to a meeting readout provided by Ittihadiya. Anastasiades briefed El Sisi on Cyprus’ recent efforts to build a consensus within the European Union on “a solution to the Palestinian issue.” Spring boarding off a strategic dialogue with Israel on potential joint exploitation of offshore natural gas fields, Anastasiades has been maneuvering to have the PA’s Mahmoud Abbas and Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu have face-to-face talks sponsored by the EU. Haaretz took a time-out nearly two weeks ago, at the start of Anastasiades’ charm offensive, to remind Israel that “it has an ally a 40-minute flight away.”

ENERGY

EGAS revises the cost of importing gas down to USD 2.25 bn in FY2015-16
Daily News Egypt | 24 June 2015
EGAS has lowered its projection for the natural gas import cost in FY2015-16 to USD 2.25 bn from USD 2.5 bn as international energy prices continue to fall, EGAS Chairman Khaled Abdel Badie told Daily News Egypt. Commenting on the agreement signed with BP to import LNG, Abdel Badie said the delay in signing the agreement was due to BP’s initial disagreement over a clause allowing for extra LNG shipments. According to DNE, EGAS will be importing 90 LNG cargoes in 2015 and 2016 with Abdel Badie noting that each shipment will have 140,000-170,000 cubic meters of LNG. (Read)

EGEMAC awarded contract to expand three transformer stations
Al Mal | 25 June 2015
EGEMAC was awarded an EGP 35 mn contract to expand three transformer stations. The stations are in Beni Suef and Fayoum and the project aims to allow the national electricity to contain the extra production capacities expected from the power stations being built currently. Two of the three stations will be in Beni Suef and have a capacity of 22 kV, the other is 66kV station in Fayoum. (Read in Arabic)

EEHC creates two joint-stock companies to manage Siemens’ electricity projects in Egypt
El Balad | 24 June 2015
The Egyptian Electricity Holding Company (EEHC) will create to joint-stock companies to manage Siemens’ electricity projects in Egypt after their completion. Siemens is building power stations in Egypt to increase electricity output by 14,400 MW. The Electricity Ministry’s spokesperson said the companies will operate similar to private sector companies and the Ministry will consider listing them on the EGX. (Read in Arabic)

Dana Gas completes board meeting, reviews Egypt operations
ADX Press Release | 25 June 2015
Dana Gas’ board of directors met on Wednesday, as per a statement sent to the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange. The board reviewed the company’s current progress in projects taking place in UAE, Egypt, and Kurdistan along with a report on outstanding receivables from Egypt and Kurdistan. Dana Gas’ board also reviewed the mid-year 2015 budget report and ratified 1Q2015 financial statements. (Read)

Desert Technologies, Enerray SpA awarded two 50MW PV plants in Egypt
PV Tech | 25 June 2015
Al Jeel Al Hader Trading Company on behalf of Desert Technologies and Enerray SpA have announced that they have signed MOUs for two 50MW PV projects with the NREA. The NREA has already reportedly allotted the plots of land in Benban for the projects. The two PV projects, in addition to a separate 50MW wind power plant, are expected to hold a total investment of USD 250 mn with a mix of debt and equity financing. Both companies have already signed MOUs with the New and Renewable Energy Agency (NREA) to lease two spots of government land for their PV plants in Benban, Egypt, approximately 30 km from Aswan. (Read)

INFRASTRUCTURE

10th of Ramadan City needs more industrial land
Al Mal | 26 June 2015
Several factories in the 10th of Ramadan industrial zone have displayed interest in pumping additional investments to expand their facilities and production lines, but can’t find industrial land to do so, says 10th of Ramadan City chairman of the board of trustees Mohamed Helmy. Despite the availability of land, the areas contain no infrastructure, which in turn, pushed industrial land prices up. (Read in Arabic)

National Authority for Potable Water & Sewage completes EGP 6.3 bn projects
Al Borsa | 27 June 2015
The NAPWS completed 40 drinking water projects outputting 1.2 mn cubic metres daily with
investments of EGP 6.3 bn. Additionally, the authority completed 23 sewage projects
outputting 400 thousand cubic metres daily with investments of EGP 3.336 bn, said Minister of Housing Mostafa Madbouly. (Read in Arabic)

BASIC MATERIALS & COMMODITIES

Arabian Cement Company’s Suez plant now equipped to use coal, RDF
Company release | 25 June 2015
Arabian Cement Company (ACC) announced the successful commissioning of the latest addition to the alternative fuel processing machinery at its plant  in Suez. The “Hot Disc” equipment allows ACC’s plant to rely completely on coal and alternative fuel to run its operations. ACC now has a designed fuel mix of 70% coal and 30% alternative fuels. The alternative fuel that will be used will be a mixture of agricultural wastes, municipal sludge, and RDF.

Suez Cement to finalize transition to coal year-end 2016
Amwal Al Ghad | 25 June 2015
Suez Cement will finalize its transition to using coal as fuel input by the end of 2016, the company’s Chairman said. The project costs a total of EGP 1.2 bn. Suez Cement operates five plants, two of which have already been converted to run on coal at a cost of EGP 457.8 mn. (Read in Arabic)

Wadi Group to expand in Africa, invest USD 10 mn in Nigeria and Ethiopia
Al Borsa | 25 June 2015
Wadi Group announced plans to expand in Africa in 2016 and intends to invest USD 10 mn in Nigeria and Ethiopia to test their markets. This follows a successful expansion in Sudan with Wadi Group noting that African governments are removing obstacles to potential investors by giving them access to land ownership and leasing. In contrast, Wadi Group is complaining of the lack of a clear vision regarding the privatization of land plots. (Read in Arabic)

MANUFACTURING

ASEC Cement sells 68.7% of shares in Misr Qena Cement
Al Mal | 27 June 2015
ASEC Cement has sold 68.75% of its shares in Misr Qena Cement at EGP 85 per share and a total of EGP 471.24 mn, said Ahmed Abdel Hamid, head of investor relations at Misr Qena Cement. ASEC Cement had owned 24.21% of Misr Qena and is expected to sell the remainder of its shares next Sunday, he added. (Read in Arabic)

Ministry of Supply to implement biodiesel and fertilizer projects in Alexandria
Al Mal | 27 June 2015
The Ministry of Supply project to turn used cooking oil into biodiesel has been upgraded to also turn food leftovers into fertilizer, says minister Khaled Hanafy. The aim of these projects is to increase support to families, providing thousands of job opportunities and meet the market’s fertilizer demand. (Read in Arabic)

HEALTH & EDUCATION

Health Ministry want Hep-C generic drug prices reduced
Al Borsa | 25 June 2015
The Health Ministry began negotiating with pharmaceuticals producers to reduce prices of generic Sovaldi Sofosbuvir. The Ministry wants the selling price of the hepatitis C drug to be reduced to EGP 1,600 per pack from EGP 2,400-2,760 currently. Producers have not expressed any notable objections to the Ministry’s proposition, but pharmaceuticals’ chamber chairman, Mohamed El Ezaby, said any price reductions will be contingent on reducing the purchase price of inputs. (Read in Arabic)

REAL ESTATE & HOUSING

Tag Sultan’s interior roads to be complete by end of the year, says NCCW
Amwal Al Ghad | 27 June 2015
The Nasr Company for Civil Works says it will complete the interior roads in the first phase of the Tag Sultan project, located on the Cairo-Suez Desert Road, by the end of the current year, with a total cost of EGP 50 mn, said NCCW Chairman, Elewa Shalaby. (Read in Arabic)

TOURISM

Cairo hotel occupancies to double as GCC tourists visit for Eid
Daily News Egypt | 24 June 2015
Occupancies in Cairo hotels are set to more than double to 70% in during the last ten days of Ramadan and during the Eid holidays as tourists from the GCC book getaways, Egyptian Tourism Federation Board member Hussein Shoukry said. “I expect that Arab tourism will be in very good condition over this summer. Improvement will start by the last days of this Ramadan,” Shoukri added. He added that high airline ticket prices, particularly from EgyptAir, remain a major obstacle to tourist visits. (Read)

TELECOMS & ICT

Huawei Egypt inks Ministry of Manpower upgrade agreement
Al Borsa | 25 June 2015
In the latest bid by Chinese contractors to make inroads into the Egyptian market, Huawei Egypt CEO Yang Tao inked an agreement to grant EGP 6 mn in new technology to upgrade the Ministry of Manpower’s information center. (Read in Arabic)

Government broadband project 50% complete
Amwal Al Ghad | 27 June 2015
TE Data and Etisalat Egypt have completed 50% of the EGP 350 mn government broadband project aimed at supplying 1,604 facilities belonging to nine ministries with infrastructure sufficient to deliver broadband internet at speeds of up to 20/mbps, said Hesham El Alaily, CEO of the National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority. (Read in Arabic)

Intel Egypt to cooperate with government on smart census project
Amwal Al Ghad | 25 June 2015
The government and Intel Egypt will be cooperating to implement the smart census system the Ministry of Planning is preparing in accordance with the U.N. Census Program launched in 2006, said Sameh El Malah, head of business development at Intel Egypt. (Read in Arabic)

AUTOMOTIVE & TRANSPORTATION

GB Auto trading volume set to increase: NBK Capital
Al Borsa and Mubasher | 27 June 2015
Samir Murad, Vice President of Equity Research at NBK Capital, predicts a rise in the trading volume of GB Auto’s shares following the company’s recent capital increase. This increase, however, will not have any impact the company’s fair value, which NBK Capital recently maintained at EGP 6.60 per share, with a ‘Buy’ recommendation. Al-Borsa notes that the proceeds from the capital increase are earmarked for a tire production facility and a plant to manufacture motorcycles and three-wheelers. (Read in Arabic or English)

Mahlab met with Transportation Ministry officials on Saturday
Ahram | 27 June 2015
Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab met with Transportation Minister Hany Dahi and other high-ranking ministry officials, on Saturday to discuss the development of Egypt’s rail network. The Egyptian National Railway Authority’s chief provided the PM with an overview of the authority’s recent efforts to both modernize and expand its locomotive engine fleet, particularly agreements inked with the Arab Organization for Industrialization and the National Authority for Military Production to refurbish out-of-service locomotives. (Read in Arabic)

BANKING & FINANCE

Banque Misr in talks with banks for dollar loan -sources
Reuters, Bloomberg | 24-25 June 2015
Banque Misr has reportedly invited banks to pitch for arranger roles on a potential 3-year, dollar-denominated syndicated loan in the amount of USD 300 mn, three banking sources said on Thursday to Reuters. This would appear to be separate from a USD 390 mn loan being prepared by NBE. Meanwhile, Bloomberg notes that Banque Misr is threatening to overtake Standard Chartered Plc’s title for top loan arranger in Africa to Banque Misr this year. Banque Misr is bookrunning for c.USD 1.6 bn of loans, 90% of which this year went to  the Suez Canal Authority and Upper Egypt Electricity Production Co., as reported by Bloomberg.

EFG Hermes ranks on Institutional Investor EMEA Research Team 2015
Company Statement | 25 June 2015
A company statement notes the firm is the “only research house in the Arab world to have ranked, making it the “best-ever performance by a MENA research house on the industry’s most-followed ranking of sell-side analysts. Simon Kitchen and colleagues were the top-ranked MENA Equity Strategy team (up from third place last year), while Wafaa Baddour and her Consumer / Nondiscretionary team made their debut on the team list in the runner-up position for the wider EMEA region.” (Read)

OTVentures’ T-Pay registers 62-fold y-o-y growth led by UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt
Zawya | 25 June 2015
T-Pay, an open mobile payment platform in the Arab region launched by OTVentures subsidiary ArpuPlus, announced a 62-fold growth in revenues, according to a press release. Growth was led by strong performance in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt. The press release mentions that the platform has partnered with 21 mobile operators from 10 countries to provide direct operating billing to over 200 mn mobile subscribers. (Read)

OTHER BUSINESS NEWS OF NOTE

KAPCI Coatings looks to increase sales to EGP 1.5 bn per annum
Al Borsa | 27 June 2015
KAPCI Coatings plans to increase its overall sales to EGP 1.5 bn annually by the end of 2015, said company General Manager Mohamed Ratib. According to Ratib, the company will achieve this goal by ramping-up production, which stood at 90,000 tons in 2014, and increasing its export activities while growing its domestic market share. The company currently exports to 55 countries. (Read in Arabic)

EGYPT POLITICS + ECONOMICS

Pensions up 10% as of July
Al Masry Al Youm | 27 June 2015
President Abdel Fattah El Sisi approved a 10% raise on pensions to be paid for by the State treasury, and to be issued as of July 2015, according to Minister of Social Solidarity Ghada Wali. The decision came with no ceiling or roof to the pensions increase, Wali added, stressing that the 10% raise was all the ministry could handle in the new budget. (Read in Arabic)

EGP 147.6 bn size of implemented investments in 1H15 says Ministry of Planning
Amwal Al Ghad | 25 June 2015
The total size of implemented investments for the first half of 2015 was EGP 147.6 bn, from EGP 122.8 bn this time last year, according to the Ministry of Planning. In the second quarter of this year, the size of public investment went up 35% hitting a growth rate of 21%, while private investment went up 11.5% hitting a 23% growth rate. (Read in Arabic)

REGIONAL

AfDB looks to fill funding gap for USD 3 bn Africa50 infrastructure fund
Al Mal | 27 June 2015
African countries have so far contributed USD 1 bn of a targeted USD 3 bn for the African Development Bank’s Africa50 fund. The fund, which the AfDB launched in June 2015, aims to finance large infrastructure projects across the continent. The AfDB will now look to attract contributions from private sector entities, including pension funds and insurance companies, and perhaps even non-African agencies, to fill the gap. (Read in Arabic)

ON YOUR WAY OUT

British Airways announced that from 30 June, all flights from and to Cairo will be moved to “the more spacious, modern and advanced design of London Heathrow’s Terminal 5.” The announcement is part of a plan by British Airways to consolidate all its flights into London Heathrow into Terminals 3 and 5 by the end of 2015.

On Saturday, President Abdel Fattah El Sisi met with members of his council of economic advisors to discuss plans to kick-start production at 1,000 factories in New Cairo. The council also discussed establishing a new  government entity that would be responsible for promoting SME development. (Read)

Poultry prices have reached record highs following the donkey meat scare earlier this month that drove consumers towards white meat, Al Shorouk reported. The situation was exacerbated with poultry production having plummeted following avian influenza scares in the past years.

The Higher Elections Committee gave their preliminary agreement on the electoral law reforms, said Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Ibrahim El Heneidy.

The New Urban Communities Authority has issued a tender for a right-of-use agreement on beaches and artificial lakes at Marina Alamein for a period of one year.

Make that 49 — and counting. The lawyer whose blasphemy suit against controversial presenter Islam El-Beheiry was thrown out by a Cairo court last week has filed an appeal. If accepted, it will bring to 49 the number of lawsuits El-Beheiry reportedly faces for challenging religious orthodoxy on his combative (and now off-air) program.

The Ministry of Finance proposes reducing the tax rate on investment projects: Sources speaking to AMAY said that the Ministry of Finance sent a proposal to amend the tax law that includes reducing the tax rate on investment projects from 25% to 22.5%. The proposal seeks to avoid double taxation.

Street vendors removed from Giza square: Youm7 reports that on Thursday, the district authorities of southern Giza removed street vendors from Giza Square in efforts to relocate them at Rabee Al Gizy Street. District Chairman Tayseer Abdelfattah said that the Traffic Department removed street vendors located in front of Omar Effendi and Ahmed Maher Street, noting that some physical alterations took place.

BY THE NUMBERS

USD CBE auction (Thursday, 25 June): 7.5301 (unchanged since Monday, 02 Feb)
USD parallel market (Thursday, 25 June): 7.68 (unchanged from Sunday, 7 June, Reuters)

EGX30 (Thursday): 8,406.17 (-0.60%)

WTI: USD 59.63 (-0.12%)
Brent: USD 63.26 (+0.09%)

TASI: 9,367.29 (+0.58%)
ADX: 4,760.76 (-1.26%)
DFM: 4,146.73 (-0.43%)
KSE Weighted Index: 422.12 (+0.18%)
QE: 12,133.23 (-0.24%)
MSM: 6,441.95 (-0.11%)