IPO of top cheesemaker Domty could be worth north of EGP 1.1 bn

TL;DR

EXIM Bank plans to increase funding to Egypt to USD 1.5 bn in 2016. (Speed Round)

IPO of top cheese maker Domty could be worth north of EGP 1.1 bn. (Speed Round)

Elsewedy Electric, Japan’s Marubeni to build a 4,000 MW coal-fired plant. (Speed Round)

Egypt apparently solves airlines’ repatriation concerns after BA, Emirates make threats. (Speed Round)

USD payment limits on credit cards squeeze digital marketing businesses. (Telecoms + ICT)

Egypt’s LNG policy still unclear, will struggle to cover energy demand. (Energy)

Dana Gas expands beyond Egypt and Iraq, starts producing in the UAE. (Energy)

GASC buys 180k tonnes of Romanian, Ukrainian wheat as futures drop to five-year lows. (Speed Round)

Egypt budget deficit up to EGP 167.8 bn, 5.9% of GDP in the first half of FY2015-16 – MOF. (Speed Round)

Okasha kicked out of the House, Faraeen shut down again. (Speed Round)

Ahli United Bank joins other banks in lowering cap on FX for travellers. (Banking + Finance)

By the Numbers

WHAT WE’RE TRACKING TODAY

President Abdel Fattah El Sisi lands in South Korea today, where he’s expected to meet with President Park Geun-hye, the prime minister and the speaker of parliament. The president is also set to sign a declaration boosting ties to the level of “comprehensive partnership” between the two countries, according to a statement from Ittihadiya. We’re also told the president is expected to stop by a meeting of the Korean Egyptian Business Council at which GB Auto’s Raouf Ghabbour and Qalaa’s Ahmed Heikal will be presenting.

The Suez Canal Economic Zone is expected to sign a cooperation agreement with the South Korean Incheon Economic Zone during the president’s trip to South Korea, said Mohamed Youssef, chief executive of the Egyptian Businessmen’s Association, which brokered the agreement, AMAY reports.

The Emirates NBD / Markit Purchasing Managers’ Index for Egypt, the UAE and Saudi Arabia are set to be released this morning at 8:30 KSA / 9:30 UAE. Hit this link at the appointed hour to view any one of them, typically as a pdf download.

ON THE HORIZON

Institutional investors from across the globe will meet face-to-face with c-suite executives from some of the most compelling issuers in MENA at the 12th Annual EFG Hermes One on One 2016, Atlantis, The Palm, Dubai. The three-day gathering gets underway on Monday. EFG Hermes Head of MENA Strategy, who is moderating the debate on “Can MENA escape the boom and bust cycles of oil?” that kicks off the conference on Monday will have a column for in Sunday’s edition.

** Enterprise (well, at least two of us) will be in Dubai next week for the 1×1 and we probably still have a couple of coffee slots open for later in the week. Drop us an email at patrick@enterprisemea.com if you’re interested in chatting — and if you’ve written and we haven’t gotten back to you, we will today — promise.

LAST NIGHT’S TALK SHOWS

Lamees El Hadidy was off last night, so Khairy Ramadan filled in with a special on California Institute of Technology (Caltech) honouring Nobel Laureate Ahmed Zewail for his 40-year career. In case you were wondering why, Zewail is the Linus Pauling Chair Professor of Chemistry, Professor of Physics, and the director of the Physical Biology Center for Ultrafast Science and Technology at Caltech.

Over on Al Qahera Wal Nas, Ibrahim Eissa was on about those who want Egypt to “move forward” versus those who want the country to be “entrenched in the past.” Eissa began with none other than parliament, calling it “Ikhwan-like” due to a decided lack of democracy, with government-backed parties able to pass motions with overwhelming majority. He also praised Cairo University President Gaber Nassar for banning niqab on campus while chastising Helwan University President Yasser Sakr for a Facebook post he wrote detailing the reasons for cancelling a Mohamed Hamaky concert. Yasser reportedly said an impending visit from Islamic preacher Mostafa Hosny should be “entertainment” enough. Later in the show Eissa received word that Sakr denied writing the post.

Eissa’s Wednesday debate was on how political parties have changed since 25 January, hosting Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies’ Wahid Abdel Meguid and Misriyeen Al Ahrar Party member Mahmoud El Alaily. While Meguid finds party activity downright feeble post-25 January, El Alaily feels parties just need more presence on “the street.” El Alaily believes the key is more transparency, presumably in party activity, while Meguid offered a straight-to-the-point: “Egypt does not have transparency.”

Amr Adeeb was also off last night from Al Qahera Al Youm. Rania Badawy filled in with a segment covering what’s been on everyone’s mind these last few days: MP Tawfik Okasha. An overwhelming majority of MPs voted to expel Okasha from the legislature yesterday (we have more in Speed Round below). Badawy reported that Okasha was eavesdropping on the proceedings while the House was deciding his fate. We’re not sure where she got that information from, but we’re embarrassed to say we could picture it all quite clearly, true or not. Okasha reportedly asked to apologize to the House, but was refused.

A quick programming note: Love them or hate them, our nightly talk show roundup will be on hiatus next week while a couple of us are in the UAE.

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SPEED ROUND

The Export-Import (EXIM) Bank of the United States has announced plans to increase funding to Egypt to USD 1.5 bn in 2016. CEO Fred Hochberg tells Daily News Egypt that the bank’s Egypt portfolio does not exceed USD 250 mn currently, with EgyptAir being the principal beneficiary of the bank’s financial support, which is used to support and develop its aircraft fleet. EXIM Bank is now looking to expand financing to SMEs and Hochberg believes they “are the main leaders of development in all societies, especially in developing countries.”

Domty IPO could be worth north of EGP 1.1 bn as Egypt’s top cheese producer announces indicative price range: Domty has set the price for its offer of 122.5 mn existing ordinary shares (or about 49% of the company’s outstanding share capital) at EGP 8.80-9.20 per share, the company said in an emailed statement. The transaction will see selling shareholders including the founding Damaty family and Yehia Bin Laden subsequently subscribe to a closed offering based on the same price and inject EGP 300 mn into the company to fund its expansion plans, which include the launch of new lines of business and entry to high-growth African markets. The offering of 122.5 mn shares includes 110.25 mn in an international offering and 12.25 mn in an Egyptian retail offering. Shares will ultimately trade under the ticker DOMT. EFG Hermes Investment Banking is sole global coordinator and bookrunner for the transaction, while Baker & McKenzie is international counsel to the issuer and Matouk Bassiouny is serving as local counsel. Akanar Partners is financial advisor. With food (and restaurants) probably the most resilient sector in the economy in the past five years, it’s little wonder the listing is getting plenty of ink in the domestic and international press (see, for example, here and here). Meanwhile, you can read the indicative price range release and / or yesterday’s intention to float release on our website. Both are pdf downloads.

Domty and EFG Hermes are on the road now for the IPO, lining up investors in the U.K., the U.S., South Africa and the GCC (particularly the UAE), the Daily News reports, citing exclusive comments from EFG Hermes Investment Banking Executive Director Moustafa El Chiati. The company will also be at the EFG Hermes One on One next week in Dubai.

Elsewedy Electric is joining Japan’s Marubeni Corporation to build a 4,000 MW coal-fired power plant in Matrouh on an EPC-plus-finance basis, the company says. The plant, located west of Matrouh, will be built in two phases, each with an approximate capacity of 2,000 MW. The project is also planned to desalinate approximately 360k cubic meters of sea water each day. The MoU was signed in Tokyo and grants the consortium site access to carry out necessary studies to submit a firm technical, commercial, and financial proposal. Reuters has coverage in English.

El Sewedy also signed an EGP 180 mn agreement with the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC) on Wednesday to import and install 50 transformers at EETC’s electrical substations, Al Mal reports. El Sewedy has five months to complete the project, says head of the EETC Gamal Abdel Raheem. Commenting on the MoU, CEO Ahmed Elsewedy said the company intends to bid for other infrastructure projects and will not just limit its scope to electricity generation and transmission, according to Al Borsa.

The central bank has reportedly addressed the concerns of a host of airlines complaining about their inability to repatriate earnings, a central bank source tells Reuters on Wednesday. “Air carriers’ concerns have been addressed and the latest issue with British Airways has been totally resolved regarding the repatriation of their profits,” the source told Reuters. No further details have emerged about what kind of measures were taken to solve the issue nor was a timeline given.

Just before the news broke, Emirates threatened to reduce its operations in Egypt by 75%, running only five flights a week instead of 20 due to difficulty repatriating funds, the head of the Tourism Ministry-affiliated Aviation Council told Al Mal. British Airways had said it would no longer accepting cash payments, allowing tickets to only be paid using credit cards, Al Masry Al Youm writes, after reports surfaced a day before that the airline would only accept USD payments into its bank accounts. The Aviation Council head says all international airlines operating in Egypt would follow in British Airways’ footsteps. Emirates has about USD 80-90 mn that it’s been trying to get out of the country for months, while Al Mal adds that Lufthansa has USD 15-17 mn in the queue, while Air France-KLM has about USD 12 mn.

The parallel market rate is now EGP 9.40 to USD 1, climbing EGP 0.5 in less than a day, Al Borsa reports. Constraints placed on FX currency exchanges by the CBE continue to be the reason behind the weakening rate, with limited access to USD on the parallel market.

Adidas AG said it plans to add Nassef Sawiris to its supervisory board. Sawiris, one of the largest shareholders in the company, “will be put forward for election at May’s annual meeting,” Bloomberg writes. “The supervisory board will increase to 16 members from 12, which Adidas said will reflect ‘the increasing size and internationality of the company’s business’.”

Egypt is back in the wheat market after futures dropped to a five-year low, Bloomberg’s Isis Almeida says. GASC bought 180k tonnes of Romanian and Ukrainian wheat at an average price of USD 184.71 per ton, the state-run buyer said Wednesday. “Egypt wants to benefit from the decline of the market and has launched a new tender of soft wheat … French origins have a good chance along with Argentinian and Black Sea offers,” French farm adviser Agritel said in a report. Almeida adds that Egypt’s standoff with international traders is easing after the country made its biggest wheat purchase in almost a year in last week.

Reuters also got on the Egypt wheat bandwagon yesterday, although maybe a little too late, penning a short feature on the confusion on acceptable levels of ergot fungus in shipments. While GASC successfully purchased 300k tonnes of wheat last week and 180k this week, that fact that less than half the usual number of suppliers opt to make bids during tenders means uncertainty is still front and center. “The risk is still incalculable,” said a Cairo-based trader that sat out of the tender, echoing the sentiment of several others reached by Reuters.

Egypt’s budget deficit grew to EGP 167.8 bn and 5.9% of GDP in the first half of FY2015-16, according to the latest report (General Economic and Financial Outlook, pdf) from the Finance Ministry issued on Wednesday. The figure makes it unlikely for the government to realize its stated plans to reduce the deficit by the end of the fiscal year. Total expenditures grew 21.7% y-o-y to EGP 349.9 bn in 1H2015-16 driven by a 20.2% y-o-y increase in subsidy spending, a 31.7% rise in spending on pensions, and a 26.2% boost in government investments, according to a statement from the Finance Ministry. Total revenues grew 17.5% y-o-y to EGP 192.2 bn in 1H2015-16.  The Finance Ministry only provided growth rates for tax revenues, which stood at 20.9%, after the ministry and EGPC failed to agree on a figure for royalties and revenues from the petroleum sector, Al Borsa says. Parliament is taking notice: House Planning and Budgeting Committee member MP Ashraf Al Araby said this was the second quarter in a row that the Finance Ministry has failed to disclose the overall revenue figure.

Sherif Ismail’s cabinet met last night. Among the decisions taken:

• Tasked by direct order the General Nile Company for Road Construction with building the 2.5 km Shubra–Banha Road at a total cost of EGP 150 mn, effectively cancelling the order originally given to the General Nile Company for Roads and Bridges.
• Approved a presidential decision to allocate land to renewable energy projects not exclusive to wind farms.
• Agreed to begin procedures to sign a framework agreement with the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China over two coal-powered plants in Hamrawen that will be built through Don Fang and Shanghai Electric. (Read in Arabic)

Is this the end of Okasha? Tawfik Okasha may no longer be a member of the House of Representatives, as MPs voted overwhelmingly in favor of removing him from the legislative body on Wednesday, Al Mal reports. Reuters reports that 465 votes were cast in favor of permanently ejecting the controversial television host (apparently quite literally having him removed by security). While Okasha was not known for making friends in the House, his meeting with the Israeli ambassador drove MPs to denounce him in droves, with one attacking him with a shoe. But Speaker of the House Ali Abdel Aal stated that the vote was prompted by Okasha’s meddling in key national security affairs and not for his dinner party with the Israeli ambassador, BBC Arabic reports. The story is fun enough that the New York Times’ Declan Walsh has piled on. And it gets better: Okasha’s television channel El Faraeen was taken off the air on Wednesday, with a message stating that it had permanently shut down. The channel’s board of directors decided to freeze its operations and put up its assets for sale, Al Borsa reports. Who says dreams don’t come true?

THE MACRO PICTURE

Moody’s lowered China’s credit-rating outlook to negative from stable due to rising government debt, falling currency reserves, and uncertainty over authorities’ ability to carry out reforms, Bloomberg reports. This didn’t seem to take much of a toll on Chinese stocks, however, with shares rallying the most in four months. Other indices followed suit, with US stocks closing at a seven-week high and European stocks up after the biggest five-day surge in banks since 2011.

Global turmoil is not going to rain on the US economy’s parade, with the economy set to “power ahead” and push inflation back to target, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco John Williams says, according to the FT (paywall). Williams talked down recession fears and trumped up risks associated with leaving interest rates too low for too long. On the flip side, European Central Bank (ECB) Executive Board Member Benoit Coeure said the bank is “studying carefully the schemes used in other jurisdictions” to mitigate the impact of negative rates on banks, Bloomberg reports. The comments are being viewed as a strong signal that the ECB will make deeper cuts to interest rates at its March meeting.

Royal Dutch Shell Plc is reportedly lining up assets for a USD 30 bn divestment program that could extend from the US and Trinidad to India, according to people with knowledge of the matter, Bloomberg writes. “Assets linked to Shell’s interests in Trinidad & Tobago and stakes in oil and gas fields in India may be on the block,” and two pipelines in the US are also high on the list, they said, but added that plans will depend on demand. Shell’s takeover of BG Group wiped out USD 10 bn of its cash and oil prices are not looking like they’ll be coming out of their rut anytime soon, prompting Shell to scramble to bring down debt-to-equity levels.

EGYPT IN THE NEWS

Egypt and Gulf Arab crude producers have yet to allow Iran resume oil shipments through the SUMED pipeline after sanctions were lifted, Bloomberg reports. Arab Petroleum Pipelines Co., which operates SUMED, is still reviewing terms of the agreement that removed sanctions on Iran in January, according to a company official. “The operator is seeking to ensure Iran complies with sanctions regulations before resuming oil shipments halted since August 2012,” said the official. Last month, Iran loaded its first cargoes destined for Europe; one of the vessels is rounding the Horn of Africa and another has been anchored at the southern approach to the Suez Canal since 24 February.

Egyptian authorities have given Italian investigators some evidence they’d been seeking for weeks regarding the murder of Italian graduate student Giulio Regeni, the Italian Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday, according to Reuters. The move comes just hours after a judicial source told Reuters that Italy was considering recalling a legal team sent last month to Cairo to investigate the murder because “Egyptian authorities are not cooperating.” The information includes data about Regeni’s cell phone calls, a partial summary of the Egyptian autopsy, and information police gathered from witnesses.

In related news, Reuters’ report that Regeni was likely tortured for days was entirely made up, Director of the Department of Forensic Medicine Hisham Abdel Hamid said yesterday. Abdel Hamid reiterated statements made on Tuesday by the Justice Ministry. Abdel Hamid denies he was questioned regarding the case, according to Al Shorouk.

The Regeni case was also featured in Tarek El-Tablawy’s Torture, Murders Stoke Tension in Egypt on Bloomberg. With an “ailing economy” and citizens growing “disenchanted” with the security apparatus under President Abdel Fattah El Sisi, El-Tablawy writes that if there’s austerity, “it would definitely stir up a lot of anger in Egypt,” according to Ziad Akl, a senior researcher at the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies in Cairo. “What’s happening right now is the regime is realizing the state cannot survive on security alone.”

DIPLOMACY + FOREIGN TRADE

Egypt and Japan issued a joint statement on bilateral relations yesterday, wrapping up President Abdel Fattah El Sisi’s visit. The agreements highlighted the need to advance cooperation in the fields of health, education, human resources development as well as enhancing Japanese investment in the areas of energy and water and in the Suez Canal Area Development project, according to an Ittihadiya statement. The countries settled on three cooperation agreements:

• The Egypt-Japan Joint initiative for Cooperation in the Electricity Sector, which covers the establishment of power plants, improving the electricity transmission and distribution system, and providing and maintenance for existing power stations in Egypt.
• The Egypt-Japan Education Partnership, which aims applying methods of the Japanese educational system in Egypt and supporting the Egypt-Japan University for Science and Technology.
• The Egypt-Japan Cooperation initiative in Healthcare, which seeks to develop Egypt’s health care system, boost collaboration on the advancement of medical equipment, and look at trilateral cooperation in healthcare for sub-Saharan African countries.

ENERGY

Egypt’s LNG policy still unclear, will struggle to cover energy demand
Egypt will continue to struggle to cover its energy and gas demand this year, Rachel Williamson writes for Interfax Energy. Egypt is yet to reveal its energy strategy, with plans to commission a third FSRU yet to materialise and the government is working on a USD 360 mn project to expand the storage capacity at the Ain Sokhna Port. Industrial output will depend on how much of the imported natural gas is directed toward factories to balance between social and economic pressures. (Read)

Dana Gas expands beyond Egypt and Iraq, starts producing in the UAE
Dana Gas has expanded its gas production beyond Egypt and Iraq and announced it is expanding its output to the UAE with an offshore natural gas field. Dana Gas started production from the Zora Gas Field, off the coasts of the emirates of Sharjah and Ajman, Bloomberg reports. “Gas from Zora is being transported through [an] undersea pipeline to a newly built onshore gas processing facility in the Hamriyah free zone in Sharjah.” Sales from the UAE and Egypt will “help to offset the decrease in revenue and profits resulting from the current low oil price environment,” CEO Patrick Allman-Ward said. (Read)

ACWA Power praises Egypt’s investments, power regulatory framework
Egypt’s Investment Act and electricity legislation garnered praise from ACWA Power’s regional director Hassan Ameen, Al Mal reports. Investors in the energy sector have been drawn to lucrative projects due to the regulatory framework governing them, said Ameen, adding that over 200 investors have initiated projects on the merits of Egypt’s feed-in-tariff system. (Read in Arabic)

INFRASTRUCTURE

EGP 100 bn needed to solve sanitation issues in villages
The Housing Ministry has estimated the cost of extending sanitation infrastructure to all villages in Egypt at around EGP 100 bn, noting that only 15% of villages have the infrastructure now. The ministry has a plan to reach 50% within the next three years, says Housing Minister Mostafa Madbouly. (Read in Arabic)

BASIC MATERIALS + COMMODITIES

Wadi Group to inaugurate EGP 60 mn cattle feed factory in May
Wadi Group’s new cattle feed factory will begin production in May, CEO Tony Freiji tells Al Borsa. The EGP 60 mn factory was built over an area of 27,000 sqm and will operate at a capacity of 60,000 tonnes annually, he adds. The group is looking to boost exports by 30% to Arab markets from its monocalcium phosphate factory in Sadat City, says Freiji. (Read in Arabic)

Supply Ministry to transport grain from ports using rail, river
The ministers of supply and transport have agreed to use railroads and river networks to move wheat and grain from ports to their silos and to transport food commodities from factories to their supply centers in various governorates. The cooperation agreement will be signed at a cabinet meeting soon. The railroad and river transport systems will reduce losses made by other methods of transportation, in addition to reducing the load on roads, says Transport Minister Saad El Geyoushi. (Read in Arabic)

Blumberg Grain looking to obtain 30 feddans in East Port Said to establish grain terminal
Blumberg Grain is looking to be allocated 30 feddans in East Port Said from the General Authority for the Suez Canal Economic Zone and the International Deployment Group to build a grain facility, sources tell Al Borsa. The total cost of the facility, which will cure and store agricultural crops, is around USD 3 bn, with USD 700 mn allocated for construction costs. The facility will also include a training center for farmers. The company expects to meet with head of the General Authority for Suez Canal Economic Zone Ahmed Darwish to finalise an agreement within the next two weeks. (Read in Arabic)

MANUFACTURING

Gov’t to tender 14 mn sqm in Tenth Ramadan for industrial development
Prime Minister Sherif Ismail promised investors that the government plans to tender 14 mn sqm in Tenth Ramadan City for industrial development over the coming months, Al Borsa reports. A tender for 2.5 mn sqm will be launched in the coming days. All land in Tenth Ramadan will be put up under the usufruct system instead of direct ownership from now on to avoid speculative land grabs by realtors, Ismail is reported to have said. He apparently refused to discuss the FX crunch with developers and declined to review the prices of natural gas that would be provided for them. (Read in Arabic)

HEALTH + EDUCATION

Health Ministry lifts cap on some medication prices
Al Mal has obtained a copy of the price changes on medications after the Health Ministry lifted price caps. Medications that increased the most were underpriced to begin with and manufactured by subsidiaries of the Holding Company for Pharmaceuticals, which has incurred annual losses of EGP 150 mn, says head of the Division of Apothecary Traders at the Cairo Chamber of Commerce Ali Auf. (Read in Arabic)

REAL ESTATE + HOUSING

SNC Lavalin to oversee the construction of a food plant
Canadian engineering and construction firm SNC Lavalin has inked an agreement with an undisclosed domestic food industry company to provide design work and oversee building a factory at the Sixth October Industrial Complex with investments of EGP 300 mn, head of business development in Egypt Ayman Ismail tells Al Borsa. The factory is located over 60,000 sqm and will be built in 18 months, he adds. (Read in Arabic)

TELECOMS + ICT

USD payment limits on credit cards strain digital marketing businesses
As banks move in to place limits on commercial USD credit card and online payments and raise their fees on converting USD to 3.5% transactions, online and digital marketing firms are finding it difficult to do business in Egypt. Digital media companies may now have to turn to charging the parallel market rate for ad campaigns, according to head of digital media at Brand Worx Amr Keelany. Other digital media executives speaking to Al Mal fear the policy may drive clients to cut their ad budgets. (Read in Arabic)

BANKING + FINANCE

Ahli United Bank joins other banks in lowering cap on FX for travellers
Ahli United Bank has joined other banks in tightening the limit on USD for clients abroad, Al Mal reports. Restrictions on debit card withdrawals amounted to the FX equivalent of EGP 1,000 daily, EGP 7,000 weekly, and EGP 28,000 monthly. Cash withdrawals for the bank’s premium credit card clients will be reduced to EGP 5,000 per day, EGP 10,000 per week, and EGP 50,000 per month. Credit card purchases are being lowered to EGP 50,000 per day, EGP 70,000 per week, and EGP 100k per month. (Read in Arabic)

Seven banks ink EGP 2 bn loan agreement with Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company
A consortium of seven banks signed the final agreement for an EGP 2 bn loan to the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company to finance the national grid expansion, sources tell Al Mal. The Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, Baraka Bank, and the Industrial Development and Workers Bank arranged EGP 1.35 bn, while the remaining four banks arranged EGP 650 mn, the sources add. (Read in Arabic)

Fawry inks three agreements in the UAE with plans for more in 2016
Fawry has signed agreements with three Emirati organizations, Al Mal reports. The e-payments firm is also negotiating with three organizations in Kuwait and two US-based companies as part of a EGP 60-70 mn local and regional expansion strategy, says Fawry CEO Ashraf Sabry, who remained tight-lipped about the details of these agreements and negotiations. The company is planning on inking six or seven other strategic global partnerships by the end of the year, he says. (Read in Arabic)

Emerging markets private equity outfit Actis has agreed to sell Emerging Markets Payments to Dubai’s Network International in what Reuters says is a USD 340 mn transaction, citing “sources familiar with the matter.” Network international is 51% owned by Emirates NBD. The lashup would create the largest payments processor in the Middle East and Africa, the newswire says, and “is the first acquisition made by the payments firm since private equity firms Warburg Pincus and General Atlantic bought a 49% stake late last year.” The company presently generates “around 80% of its revenue from the UAE”; the transaction will dilute that figure to c. 65%.

Mega Investment looking to acquire brokerage firm at an EGP 200-250 mn ticket price
Mega Investment Holding is looking to acquire a brokerage firm within the next six months in an agreement that could be valued at EGP 200-250 mn to form a new brokerage entity, sources tell Al Borsa. Mega Investment is studying two potential candidates, the source says, adding that the acquisition will be self-financed. The company’s shareholders are looking to obtain an investment fund management license, he says. (Read in Arabic)

EGYPT POLITICS + ECONOMICS

NBE issues USD 1.5 bn to cover imports over the past five months
The National Bank of Egypt (NBE) has provided importers with USD 1.5 bn in letters of credit and facilities during the past five months, said NBE’s VP Mahmoud Montasser. At a news conference at the Builders for Egypt Forum, Montasser announced that the bank has provided EGP 34 bn in direct and indirect financing to contractors during the current fiscal year. He went on to discuss SME financing, which NBE has apparently given EGP 24 bn to over 2,100 businesses as part of the CBE’s SME financing initiative. (Read in Arabic)

Suez Canal Development strategy to be completed by July
The Suez Canal Development strategy will be completed by July, says VP of the Suez Canal Economic Zone Abdel Qader Darwish, and will create a special regulatory framework for the Suez Canal Zone and establish a comprehensive set of incentives for investments beyond the one-stop shop, Al Mal reports. Darwish also stated that the SCZone will form a new department to administer and manage investments in the zone, Al Borsa reports.

NATIONAL SECURITY

Prime Minister greenlights security firm for airports
Prime Minister Sherif Ismail gave the go ahead to establish a security firm with a capital of EGP 50 mn that would secure airports as one of its main functions. The government will contribute 60-70% of the capital, says deputy head of the Tourism Development Agency Ahmed Hamdy, and the rest will come from the private sector. The Interior Ministry’s role will be reduced to passport checks and interfering in escalated situations, says Egypt Airports Company Chairman Adel Mahgoub. (Read in Arabic)

ON YOUR WAY OUT

Operations at Borg El Arab Airport were halted yesterday due to bad weather conditions and low visibility, Al Ahram reported.

To all of those horribly cruel and insensitive people out there still ridiculing both Youm7 reporter Shaimaa Abdel Moneim being sent to the 88th Academy Awards and her question posed to Leonardo DiCaprio, we at Enterprise are able to exclusively break important news on the matter. The question everyone thinks she posed was not actually what she said. We hope you all feel ashamed of yourselves. The question she asked, if you care about getting your facts straight, was this.

CALENDAR

03 March 2016 (Thursday):  The final seminar on “Challenge for Effective use of water in Egypt” of the Project for Strengthening Water Management Transfer, Conrad Hotel, Cairo.

07-09 March 2016 (Monday-Wednesday): The EFG Hermes 12th Annual One on One Conference 2016, Atlantis, The Palm, Dubai.

15-16 March 2016 (Tuesday-Wednesday): U.S. Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Market Committee meets. Fed chair will hold press conference.

17 March (Thursday): Wamda’s Mix N’ Mentor Cairo 2016 – Marketplace Edition, The Greek Campus, Cairo. Register here.

21-22 March (Monday-Tuesday): The Africa CEO Forum, Sofitel Abidjan Hotel Ivoire, Abidjan, Ivory Coast.

23-24 March 2016 (Wednesday-Thursday): Microfinance Egypt, Nile Ritz-Carlton, Cairo.

27 March (Sunday): Business News Foundation’s Third Annual Energy Conference: Energy and Sustainable Development, InterContinental Hotel Citystars Cairo. Register here.

29-31 March 2016 (Tuesday-Thursday): Future Rail and Metro Egypt, Cairo.

13-16 April 2016 (Wednesday-Saturday): Cafex, Cairo.

25 April 2016 (Monday): Sinai Liberation Day (national holiday)

26-28 April (Tuesday-Thursday): Arabian Hotel Investment Conference, The Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai.

01 May (Sunday): Easter Holiday / Labour Day (national holiday)

02 May (Monday): Sham El Nessim (national holiday)

02-03 May (Monday-Tuesday): The Middle East Investment Summit 2016, Ritz-Carlton DIFC, Dubai.

06 October (Thursday): Armed Forces Day (national holiday)

27 November 2016 (Sunday): 2016 Cairo ICT Conference