FX WATCH

The EGP was steady at the CBE dollar sale yesterday but weakened on the unofficial market, selling at a cut-off price of 7.1401 to the greenback at the auction (unchanged from its last sale on Thursday) while trading at 7.68 to the dollar in the parallel market, weaker than Thursday’s 7.65, Reuters reported.

WHAT WE’RE TRACKING TODAY

Kellogg continues to deflect attacks from Egyptian media surrounding its shareholder structure and future plans as to continues to bid against Abraaj for Bisco Misr. Amr Farghal, the company’s regional VP, indicated that they plan on preserving the Bisco Misr trademark, will not lay any employees off in the first year after the acquisition (as per Egyptian law), will not produce genetically modified foods for the domestic market, and will seek to expand Bisco Misr’s export capacity by giving it access to Kellogg’s global distribution network. (We can’t help but think that, somewhere, Arif Naqvi is getting a chuckle out of this.) (Read in Arabic in Amwal Al-Ghad or check out the Daily News in English)

Following the British Embassy’s suspension of public services on Sunday, Reuters and the WSJ report that the Canadian embassy in Cairo announced yesterday its closure “due to unsettled security conditions.”  Foreign Ministry spokesperson Badr Abdel-Aati defended the UK embassy’s decision according to SIS, saying “every state had the right to take whichever measures to protect its nationals.”

Bloomberg reports that the institutional tranche of the Dubai Parks & Resorts IPO, which closed on Sunday, was oversubscribed 65 times, and witnessed investments from Qatari and Kuwaiti wealth funds, raising USD 690 mn. EFG Hermes is bookrunner on the transaction. (Read)

WHAT WE’RE TRACKING THIS WEEK

Shares of Dubai Parks and Resorts are to be listed on the DFM tomorrow, the same day on which the GCC summit kicking off today concludes (see below).

El-Sisi heading to Beijing: Egypt’s ministers of Trade and Industry, International Cooperation, Investment, Transportation and Electricity and Renewable Energy landed in Beijing between Sunday and Monday to pave the way for President Abdelfattah El-Sisi’s visit to the Chinese capital. News reports say the president is due to leave for China later this week, but not even Chinese media have confirmed dates, possibly for security reasons. (Read)

WHAT WE’RE TRACKING THIS MONTH

Sunday, 21 December: Tunisia’s presidential elections run-off.

LAST NIGHT’S TALK SHOWS

The spate of embassy closures dominated the opening segments of last night’s talk shows. This reviewer missed the first segment of Lamees El Hadeedy’s program, where she discussed the closures. Former Egyptian state television reporter Shahira Amin tweeted:

@sherryamin13: Lamis hadidy saying now on cbc that closure of embassies is a sign they r colluding with MB!!@@ (14 retweets) (View tweet)

Egyptian news sites didn’t mention any of this, but Al Dostor and Al Wafd both reported that El Hadeedy suggested that foreign embassies be relocated out in the desert cities such as 6 October, as she said that Garden City was no longer an appropriate venue. It’s interesting to note that while her show is usually uploaded in its entirety to CBC Egypt’s YouTube channel an hour or so after airing, only two segments were available online this morning, neither of which addressed the embassy closures.

Next, El Hadeedy briefly addressed the issue of the upcoming parliamentary elections. The Minister of Transitional Justice Ibrahim El Heneidy called in to discuss the new electoral law. She asked him if we should expect elections by March, and while he wouldn’t commit to a fixed date, he said that hopefully elections should take place around that time.

For the remainder of her show, El Hadeedy looked like she was caught in a bear trap while listening to some psychiatrist drone on about teamwork and the national psyche. This reviewer felt bad for El Hadeedy because she actually had to sit through the whole interview.

Amr Adeeb took the completely opposite tack, lambasting conspiracy theorists and providing a vigorous defense of the right of embassies to look after their security needs. He pointed out that the states who initiated the closures or updated security notices were actively waging war against Daesh, while we (Egypt) weren’t.

Adeeb had some good quotes last night: He said that for a people who seem to hate the West so much, it’s odd that we’re so terribly upset at the thought that visa services could be suspended. (Paraphrasing: “If you don’t like these countries, don’t go. Go to Khartoum. Go to Sana’a.”)

Adeeb attributed the closures to the opening of streets to traffic in Garden City. “The Canadian ambassador said: ‘I’ll be in Sharm El Sheikh. Call me when you’re done with all of this.”

At this point, Adeeb looked into the camera and seemed to break the fourth wall: “This is all being recorded and this is being sent abroad.” He repeated the statement again later in his program. (If you’re reading this: Hi, Amr Adeeb! Email us.)

Adeeb closed the topic by suggesting that instead we focus our attention and energy on the positive, such as scientific research conducted by Nile University, and opening the doors to science in Egypt by pursuing greater student and faculty exchanges.

Meanwhile, on ONTV: Ibrahim Eissa: “The fifth column is everywhere!” He followed this by intimating that by reviewing their security measures, some of these embassies were checking if their staff had been infiltrated by Ikhwan.

SPEED ROUND

The EGX30 closed up 0.46% at 9,577 points on turnover of EGP 976 mn, 42% above the 90-day average. Among the top gainers for the day was Memphis Pharmaceutical and Chemical Industries, up 6.13%. Memphis announced last Thursday that it had acquired the rights to the Merck Sharp MSD brand name for USD 2 mn, according to a filing with the EGX. (Read the disclosure in Arabic)

Regional markets were down for the most part, with KSA’s Tadawul off 1.7%, DFM down 3.3%, ADX easing 0.9%, Qatar essentially flat, Kuwait shedding 0.8% and only Oman’s MSM up 0.1%.

US and European markets were down yesterday as weak data from China and Japan sparked renewed worries about a global economic slowdown; US and Canadian energy shares led the way down as oil touched five-year lows, Reuters reports.

Asian markets were up yesterday, but joined the slump in Europe and North America in trading this morning.

Brent and WTI crude both continued to fall, touching five-year lows yesterday.

“Support for Egypt to top GCC Summit agenda” — Gulf media turned the spotlight on GCC assistance to Egypt as the 35th Gulf Cooperation Council Summit kicked off this morning in Doha. Security cooperation (in view of Daesh and the situation in Yemen) will also feature high on the agenda, the Khaleej Times reports. Also worth a quick read is Al-Arabiya’s translation of Raghida Dergham’s column for Al-Hayat on the summit. Asarq Al-Awsat, meanwhile, expects the GCC leaders to very deliberately endorse Egypt’s ongoing war on terror.

MOVES: Royal Dutch Shell appointed Aidan Murphy as the new Vice President Upstream, Country Chair and Managing Director for Egypt, as reported by Daily News Egypt in yesterday’s print edition.

UAE’s Masdar is “very excited about Egypt” as it enters the renewables sector with plans to undertake 2 GW of wind and solar projects, the company’s chief operating officer tells The National. (Read)

Ahram Online reports that six children have died from measles and another 400 people have contracted the disease in the western desert Oasis of Siwa. “In comments carried by state news agency MENA, the provincial governor, Badr Tantawy, said some 50 percent of children in the oasis were not vaccinated against the disease … Around 1,500 children, out of a targeted 4,000, have been inoculated in recent days.” (Read)

No extra-long weekend in January, it seems: A brief report in the Arabic press this morning notes that with the hijri month Rabei El-Awal starting on 23 December, the Prophet’s Birthday will fall on 3 January, which is a Saturday, which means no four-day New Year’s Weekend.

Ireland has opened the door for live cattle exports to Egypt, reports the Irish Farmers Journal, speaking to potential new competition for market share here. (Read)

The FT picks up the refrain of cheap oil and the strong greenback this morning, with a trio of stories published last night leading the front page of the website and suggesting the apocalypse may be upon us. (Well, not quite, but it’s as close to click-bait as the FT gets outside of its Weekend edition, we’d say.) The stories include:

• Oil and dollar hammer emerging markets — ”Emerging market currencies fell to a 14-year low against the dollar on Monday, hammered by investor appetite for the US currency and an oil price that has fallen to five-year lows. … even big oil-consuming nations that should benefit from cheaper crude — such as Turkey and South Africa — have been affected.”
• The emerging problem of foreign currency debt rides yesterday’s Bank of International Settlement quarterly report (covered in yesterday’s Enterprise) on the mis-match facing companies that took cheap USD loans and now find themselves with slumping domestic currencies.
• Risk-exposed frontier markets sell off — former FT Dubai correspondent Robin Wigglesworth blogs that “Frontier markets have dipped to a six-month low as falling oil prices and the resurgent dollar weigh on exotic exchanges from Nigeria to Vietnam.”

Track on a single page the best of the FT’s coverage of the impact of lower oil prices. (Living with Cheaper Oil).

While you’re on the FT, make certain to check out “UN climate talks call future of energy majors into question,” which suggests progress could be made at the ongoing Lima climate talks to achieve “net zero emissions by 2050” — a development that would spell the end of the oil and gas industry as we know it.

Saudi Arabia in a “Race with time”: Among those who know the world is changing is lead Saudi climate change negotiator and former OPEC official Khalid AbuLeif, who is quoted by Reuters as saying, “Inevitably, oil producers are going to be faced with huge liabilities if the implementation of the convention is advocating a move away from fossil fuels. … 2 billion people do not have access to energy.” A climate deal, he said, would have to offer new technology and funding assistance to countries that “rely on a single sector such as oil, tourism or agriculture,” concluding: “We know we are in a race with time. Climate change and economic diversification for us is hand in hand,” AbuLeif said. (Read)

Cheaper oil is seen as driving M&A activity in the sector as larger players pursue growth by simply buying it, Bloomberg reports (and we all know how well that works out in situations like these). Meanwhile, CNN Money says US producers are “starting the feel the heat” and pull back from shale projects — the very goal of the KSA-led campaign to capture market share and slash US production by making such ventures uneconomical. ConocoPhillips is the first major US oil company to announce it is reducing spending in 2015. (Read the ConocoPhillips statement)

Merck is buying Cubist Pharmaceuticals in a USD 8.4 billion all-cash deal to acquire the company’s portfolio of antibiotics amid growing industry interest innew weapons to fight drug-resistant bacteria, Bloomberg reports. Why should we care? Check out the New York Times’ “‘Superbugs’ Kill India’s Babies and Pose an Overseas Threat,” which puts the spotlight on how our rampant misuse of antibiotics has created a massive threat to human health.

Sony hacked again: After attempting to recover from a recent cyberattack on its motion pictures division (which witnessed the leaks of unreleased movies, scripts and employee Social Security Numbers) Sony’s PlayStation Network was taken offline by a group known as Lizard Squad who had claimed a similar attack last August. British tech website The Register has the most entertaining take on the DDoS. In a piece subtitled “Just not Sony’s decade,” The Register goes on to say: “the PlayStation store went titsup in the early hours of Monday, UK time.” (Read)

New evidence suggests Mars had “large lakes, rivers and deltas, on and off, for millions to tens of millions of years,” the New York Times reports, citing John P. Grotzinger, project scientist for the Mars Curiosity Rover project. The announcement at a press conference yesterday challenges the prevailing theory that the window for life to emerge on Mars had a much smaller window of hundreds of thousands of years. The article goes on to note that the Mars mission scheduled to launch in 2020 aims to bring back rock samples from the red planet to test them for signs of organic compounds, and of course, life. (Read)

After having recently been valued at USD 41 bn, Uber is facing challenges in its global expansion as a Dutch court banned the service following news that the app, which connects passengers to drivers without professional licenses, wasbanned in New Delhi following allegations that a female passenger was raped by a driver she found by using Uber. According to Bloomberg, the driver has previously been acquitted for raping a passenger in his taxi in 2011. Uber CEO Travis Kalanick released a statement, calling the allegations “horrific” and pledged to work with the Indian government to “establish clear background checks currently absent in their commercial transportation licensing programs,” something which might not be a bad idea as the service is rolled out here in Egypt. (Read about the Dutch court’s decision in MarketWatch and a detailed take on the New Delhi ban in Bloomberg)

IN FOCUS: The rush for Arab Dairy

Arab Dairy has been courted by potential international and local players namely including France’s Lactalis International, Swedish Danish Arla Foods (which withdrew from bidding after completing due diligence), Saudi Arabia’s Arrow Food Distribution, and Egyptian investment bank Pioneers Holding.

The sudden interest in Arab Dairy and the resultant bidding war prompted to wonder, simply, Why Arab Dairy? We get the fundamentals of the industry, but why this company in particular? After a bit of snooping around and a conversation with an industry professional, it seems to boil down to Arab Dairy being a very attractive way into the market for foreign players seeking a piece of Egypt’s robust white cheese market, given that:

• Arab Dairy is the maker of Panda Cheese, famous for its hugely successful marketing campaign;
• The company has a pretty decent corporate client base — including hotel chains Hilton, Moevenpick, and InterContinental, as well mass-market restaurant brands Bon Appetit, Cook Door and La Poire
• This, in turn contributes to a top line upwards of EGP 600 million, 40% of which are exports, and a Gross Profit Margin of c.25%

Arab Dairy would make a good catch if the new buyer can control their spiraling SG&A outlay and help them turn a profit more often. How would Pioneers, which held 18% of Arab Dairy heading into the bidding war, do that better than a strategic operator? We’ll leave that calculation up to you.

EGYPT IN THE NEWS

The embassy closures were bumped from their top stop in international news headlines on Egypt by news of an arrest of dozens of men who are suspected having engaged in acts of debauchery.

Reuters reports that as of last night, Egyptian police have detained 26 men at a downtown Cairo bathhouse (BBC News was reporting 33 were detained) who will be held for four days pending the decision of whether they will be charged with debauchery.

The arrest was made in the presence of TV presenter Mona Iraqi, who was photographed filming the arrest of the men, who were unclothed at the time.

Egypt Independent ran an article exploring Iraqi’s role in the arrest and her reasoning: “Iraqi’s main defense for her role in the bathhouse raid, however, centers around her show being part of a larger campaign to punish deviant behavior as a way to reduce the threat of HIV in Egypt.  The episode, she says, was part of a series in conjunction with World AIDS Day to highlight those “categories most vulnerable to HIV infection,” but the date was pushed back.

A nearby resident claims to have seen a female journalist, presumably Iraqi, first attempt to enter the bathhouse with a cameraman, only to be kicked out by the owner, the website Paper Bird reported. The woman then allegedly reported the incident to police, triggering the raid, and then proceeded to film it with both cameras.” (Read)

Meanwhile, from Dubai, Wall Street Journal reporter Summer Said, an Egyptian national, writes a lengthy disquisition on Egyptian bureaucracyas she tries to renew her passport in Cairo after having married a Belgian. Read:‘Did You Marry Him for Love?’ — An Expat’s Egyptian Passport Ordeal.

Readers of some of our first editions of Enterprise may remember the Washington Post investigation of a USAID “audit scandal” centered around funding for pro-democracy groups operating in Egypt and the legality of using taxpayer money to pay bail for the activists who had subsequently been arrested by Egyptian authorities (recap here). Well, the Post is back this morning with the follow-up: USAID watchdog Michael Carroll retires in wake of whistleblower claims.

The leader of the Islamist Ottoman Entity is unhappy Egypt asked Interpol to issue a Red Notice for Islamist scholar Yussef Al-Qaradawi: “Look, a person who came to power through a coup is giving instructions to Interpol. … What kind of a business is this? Science cannot be at the disposal of politics. Politics is the servant of science. Things have turned upside down. All of these developments show the world is unfortunately going not for the good but for the bad.” (Read)

Channel News Asia has a nice piece this morning on expectations that domestic travelers will continue to keep the tourism industry afloat as Egypt lures back foreign visitors with messages of security and stability. (Read)

ENERGY, RENEWABLE ENERGY & SUBSIDY REFORM

Egypt to sign nuclear power MoU with Jordan
Ahram Online | 07 Dec 2014
A delegation headed by Egypt’s Minister of Electricity is in Jordan discussing a memorandum of understanding with Jordan regarding nuclear power. After reviewing Jordan’s peaceful nuclear programme, Egypt is poised to become the second country (after Kuwait) to sign a nuclear power MoU with Jordan. The Egyptian delegation also discussed nuclear safety and security with their Jordanian counterparts. (Read)

Ministry of Electricity to build four new power stations before June 2015
Shorouk | 08 Dec 2014
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Electricity said that the ministry is planning of having four power stations built before June 2015. The power stations will add a capacity of 3,500 MW and the ministry will also undertake projects to improve the efficiency of existing power stations. (Read in Arabic)

OIL & GAS

Algerian gas supplies to arrive in April, 100 mcf of gas from Borollos in 2018 and nine new wells on the way
Al Akhbar | 08 Dec 2014
Oil Minister Sherif Ismail witnessed the signing of an agreement between BG and GDF to connect approximately 100 mcf of gas per day to the West Delta Processing Plant owned by BG and its partner Petronas. BG Egypt president Arshad Sufi said the agreement will help expedite delivery of natural gas to the local market. Sufi also expected production from the west Borollos field to reach 100 mcf by 2018, adding that the company’s investments reached USD 1.5 bn. Seven out of nine wells have entered into production, Sufi said, praising the government of Egypt’s efforts to repay its debts to foreign energy companies, saying it encouraged more investments and E&P activity in the nation’s energy sector. Additionally, Sufi said negotiations were still ongoing to import natural gas from Cyprus. (Print edition only)

Rashpetco production to decrease temporarily during routine maintenance of Borollos sites
Al Mal | 08 Dec 2014
Mohamed El Masry, Rashpetco’s Managing Director, told Al Mal that the company will begin routine maintenance of its Borollos sites next Saturday and is expected to go on for three days. During maintenance, daily production will drop by 150 mcf to 750 mcf but is not expected to affect supplies to the national grid. (Read in Arabic)

Western Desert most attractive region for oil and gas investors in Egypt — Al-Mal
Al Mal | 08 Dec 2014
Easier access and lower costs of projects in the Western Desert are making the region the most attractive in Egypt for oil and gas investments, especially since it allows for small-scale investments from smaller companies as opposed to off-shore sites. The attractiveness of the Western Desert stems from the large amounts of data available about the region, which reduces ambiguity and attracts more risk-averse investments. This is evident from the Ministry of Petroleum’s last round of bidding, blocks were awarded to companies including Edison, HBS Oil, and Trans Globe. (Read in Arabic)

MANUFACTURING

Oriental Weavers to increase production by 49% over the next five years, considers financing from a Belgian financial institution
Al Mal, Amwal Al Ghad | 07-08 Dec 2014
Oriental Weavers founder Mohamed Farid Khamis outlined the five year plan for the company by projecting a 49% increase in production by 2020 after opening two new factories and adding 40 new looms. According to Ingy El Diwany, the company’s investor relations manager, an unnamed Belgian financial institution is interested in investing around EUR 20 mn to finance 20 new looms as part of the expansion strategy, but Oriental Weavers are yet to reach a final decision regarding this. In the short-term, the company aims to increase production by 12% by March 2015 and add 12 new looms. Also, the company expects sales to record EGP 6 bn in 2014, with exports contributing 65% of the top line, and overall annual growth of 4-6%. The stories are re-hashes of a previously issued disclosure now being picked up by the local press, with the primary nugget of new information being the bit about the Belgian financial institution. (Read in Arabic,here, and in Al Mal)

HEALTHCARE AND PHARMA

NovaBay Pharma enters into MENA distribution agreement with Egypt-based Biopharm Group
Company Release | 08 Dec 2014
California-based biopharmaceutical company NovaBay, a NYSE-listed company focusing on the development and commercialization of non-antibiotic anti-infective products, has signed an exclusive distribution agreement for NovaBay’s NeutroPhase skin and wound cleanser with Egypt’s Biopharm Group. Under the terms of the agreement, Biopharm will market NeutroPhase in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Sudan and Libya. The company makes particular note of the market in Saudi, noting that NeutroPhase treatment could be effective in preventing the growing number of amputations in Saudi due to unhealed diabetic ulcers. (Read)

TOURISM

Zaazou: Travel warnings to Egypt issued by U.S. State Department don’t meet UNWTO Standards
Amwal Al Ghad | 07 Dec 2014
The main reason behind dwindling numbers of American tourists coming to Egypt, as explained by Hisham Zaazou the Egyptian Minister of Tourism during the Annual United States Tour Operators Association (USTOA) conference was the American State Department’s travel warnings to Egypt. According to Zaazou, the warnings don’t adhere to World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) standards. The UNTWO standards require travel warnings to have a fixed-term, as well as a clear definition of the areas where the bans apply. Furthermore the UNWTO require that the issuers of a travel ban consult with state officials before going forward. (Read in Arabic and read the UNWTO’s guidelines on travel advisorieshere)

Tourism revenues double to USD 2 bn in 3Q14
Al Borsa | 07 Dec 2014
Economic advisor to the minister of tourism Adla Ragab said during a call with Reuters on Sunday that revenues from tourism reached USD 2 bn in 3Q14, representing an increase of 112% against last year’s revenues of USD 900 mn, a comparatively low base. (Read in Arabic)

BANKING & FINANCE

New exodus at CBE
Al Mal | 08 Dec 2014
Al Mal claims to have learned that three additional senior members of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) have submitted their resignations over the past few days as a result of the new maximum wage policy, which caps wages at EGP 42,000. The new wave of departures reportedly includes HR manager Mohamed Arafa, CBE deputy governor for technology Ahmed Hashem and control manager Robert Eskander. Several senior public bankers have left their positions for private sector jobs since the maximum wage policy went into effect last July. The law prohibits public officials from joining companies and institutions which they previously supervised for a period of six months after resigning their public position.

OTHER BUSINESS NEWS OF NOTE

Egypt ready to host African climate change summit – Environment Minister
Shorouk | 08 Dec 2014
The Egyptian Minister of Environmental Affairs Khaled Fahmy met with his African counterparts as part of the global climate change talks in Lima, Peru. The meeting involved coordination regarding environmental policies and in preparation of Egypt’s hosting of the African climate change summit in early 2015. (Read in Arabic)

DP World continues to invest in Egypt, pumped USD 55 mn
Al Masry Al Youm | 08 Dec 2014
The head of DP World denied rumours that their operations in Egypt are being impeded in any way. Despite a slow start of the second phase of the Ain Sokhna port after 25 January 2011 and some labour disputes, the company injected USD 55 mn into the Egyptian market. He also outlined that Egypt needs more mega-projects, political stability will attract more investments, and that DP World is still involved actively in Egypt and didn’t shift its focus to its project in Djibouti. (Read in Arabic)

EGYPT POLITICS + ECONOMICS

Government adopts “pay to settle” policy
Al Masry Al Youm | 08 Dec 2014
A number of government ministries and agencies are negotiating with business leaders and former government officials to settle accusations of corruption and wrong-doing. An unnamed official said the government hopes to collect EGP 10 bn from possible settlements with more than 50 businessmen. Settlements are also more conducive to an attractive investment environment, according to the official. Most of the conflicts involve the ministries of housing, agriculture and tourism and relate to land grabs or violations of contractual uses and zoning of land. On a related note, Investment Minister Ashraf Salman was successful in recently reaching settlements with the UAE’s Al-Futtaim Group, Saudi investor Abdallah El-Khaki, and a group of Chinese investors developing six square kilometers northwest of the Gulf of Suez. The government official said that the settlement with Saudi investor Abdallah Al-Khaki was reached on orders from the Office of the President. The settlement stipulates that Al-Khaki drop efforts of international arbitration to recover the Tanta Flax Oil  company in exchange for recovering NUBASEED Company after having been re-nationalized by a court order. (Read in Arabic)

Arab Parliament:  We are seeking a unified investment law to boost investments
Al Borsa | 08 Dec 2014
The president of the Arab Parliament, Ahmed Ben Mohamed El-Garwan, said Egypt’s role in Arab issues is vital as the heart of the Arab World, adding that the Arab Parliament is working on a unified investment law meant to boost investments. In statements to Al Arabiya’s news channel, El-Garwan said the Arab world is confronting a vicious attack by terrorism and extremism that is threatening the fabric of the region. El-Garwan, who is serving his last term as head president of the Arab Parliament, said the region has more attributes than the European Union (EU) and must cooperate to protect Arab national security, including measures to achieve sustainable development and more inclusive policies towards women and people with disabilities.

INTERNATIONAL

Building costs increasing in Oman as government reduces energy subsidy
The National | 07 Dec 2014
The Omani government is withdrawing gas subsidies at the start of the 2015. The price of gas for cement producers is expected to double from USD 1.5 / mmbtu to USD 3 / mmbtu. This drove Oman’s two largest cement companies, Oman Cement and Raysut Cement to increase their prices thus driving up the cost of construction in the country. (Read)

After interest from Savola waned, KKR and CVC are believed to be leading bidding for Americana
Bloomberg | 08 Dec 2014
After interest from Saudi Arabia’s Savola waned, a buyout group led by KKR and CVC Capital Partners is believed to be leading the bidding for Kuwait’s Americana. The buyout consortium is believed to be have submitted an offer but is yet to reach an agreement with the owners as the price is still being negotiated. Bloomberg couldn’t obtain confirmation from either party on the matter. (Read)

Hudson to buy office buildings from Blackstone for USD 3.5 bn
Press release | 08 Dec 2014
Hudson Pacific Properties announced yesterday that it has entered into a definitive purchase agreement to acquire Equity Office Properties’ San Francisco Peninsula and Silicon Valley portfolio from Blackstone Real Estate Partners for USD 3.5 bn in stocks and cash. The release also notes that Hudson has secured USD 1.75 bn in committed bridge financing, but is still exploring alternatives to fund the transaction. (Read)

Qatar wealth fund and Brookfield receive support for Canary Wharf bid
NYT DealBook and QIA Letter of Intention | 08 Dec 2014
In a letter of intention sent to the London Stock Exchange by the Qatar Investment Authority, the QIA and Brookfield Property Partners state they have received a letter of intention from MIRELF V AIV, LP, acting through its General Partner, Madison International Holdings, which indicated it is willing to accept the QIA and Brookfield’s hostile bid for Canary Wharf. Madison owns c.2.5% of Songbird, which in turn has a controlling stake in Canary Wharf Group. (Read in the NYT and Read the disclosure to the London Stock Exchange)

ON YOUR WAY OUT

Engineers and designers from Aston Martin are working to design a car specifically for the new James Bond movie with the director Sam Mendes. (Read)

Fans of Twin Peaks, Forbrydelsen and True Detective will enjoy Serial, podcast detailing former Baltimore Sun reporter Sarah Koenig’s investigation of truth behind the 1999 murder of Baltimore teenager Hae Min Lee. Koenig’s series relies on interviews with friends of Lee, including her boyfriend — who has so far served 15 years of his sentence for the murder — to explore the vagaries of human memory and the wildly differing perspectives and accounts of the same event. Serial has gone on to become a huge success: FT notes that each episode averages 2.2 mn listeners, and the series has been downloaded over 20 mn times. Check out the podcast’s website; new episodes are out each Thursday.