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Wednesday, 7 March 2018

What we’re tracking on 07 March 2018

The EFG Hermes One on One conference wraps today. Yesterday saw a full lineup of one on one investor meetings. We had the pleasure of sitting down with our friends Mohamed Ebeid, Co-CEO of Investment Banking at EFG Hermes, and Ali Khalpey, CEO of EFG Hermes Frontier. They had some very interesting things to say about the state of Egypt, EMs, and frontiers. Look for our exclusive in tomorrow’s issue. We also would like to thank all that took the time to meet with us when we were there. Your comments and praises fuel our all-nighters.

Egypt will select investment banks to manage its April EUR 1-1.5 bn eurobond issuance within two weeks, Finance Minister Amr El Garhy tells Reuters’ Arabic service. The roadshow for the issuance will take place in “several European countries” during the same month, according to El Garhy. The minister did not mention whether the ministry plans to focus once again on attracting interest from Asian investors, who showed strong appetite during the last issuance. HSBC, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase & Co, Morgan Stanley, and National Bank of Abu Dhabi had managed the USD 4 bn issuance that Egypt successfully closed last month.

This comes as Senegal attracted almost USD 10 bn of bids in a USD 2.2 bn eurobond issuance as African governments continue to attract a lot of demand for their debt, a person familiar with the matter told Bloomberg on Tuesday. Senegal is planning to buy back as much as USD 200 mn in 2021 securities.

Separately, El Garhy said that the FY2018-19 budget should be out by the end of the month and with the House of Representatives. We have more on that and a plethora of interesting economic news in Last Night’s Talk Shows.

Does this mean winter is over for us? Temperatures will keep rising through the rest of the week before cooling on Friday, the Meteorological Authority’s spokesman tells Ahram Online. Expect a high of 34º and a low of 18º in the capital today, along with low visibility in the morning and dusty winds.

Reducing the gender pay gap across Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries could boost GDP by USD 6 tn, according to new PricewaterhouseCoopers research carried by Bloomberg. The gains would come from increased female participation in the labor market, entrepreneurship and women moving into higher-paid and skilled jobs.

How to avoid annoying web cookies and ads? Use your phone. If you, like some of us here, are annoyed by incessant ads that pop up on your computer browser after an online shopping spree, then you might want to consider switching over to your phone. Axios says that web cookies (the culprit behind the ads) are entirely unable to function on mobile apps — which is where people spend the majority of their screen time. In fact, cookies are now slowly on their way to becoming an outmoded marketing tool, as users are rely more on mobiles and less on desktops. “The big picture: Cookies are a good example of how traditional web infrastructure is becoming obsolete with the rise of mobile.”

Enterprise is a daily publication of Enterprise Ventures LLC, an Egyptian limited liability company (commercial register 83594), and a subsidiary of Inktank Communications. Summaries are intended for guidance only and are provided on an as-is basis; kindly refer to the source article in its original language prior to undertaking any action. Neither Enterprise Ventures nor its staff assume any responsibility or liability for the accuracy of the information contained in this publication, whether in the form of summaries or analysis. © 2022 Enterprise Ventures LLC.

Enterprise is available without charge thanks to the generous support of HSBC Egypt (tax ID: 204-901-715), the leading corporate and retail lender in Egypt; EFG Hermes (tax ID: 200-178-385), the leading financial services corporation in frontier emerging markets; SODIC (tax ID: 212-168-002), a leading Egyptian real estate developer; SomaBay (tax ID: 204-903-300), our Red Sea holiday partner; Infinity (tax ID: 474-939-359), the ultimate way to power cities, industries, and homes directly from nature right here in Egypt; CIRA (tax ID: 200-069-608), the leading providers of K-12 and higher level education in Egypt; Orascom Construction (tax ID: 229-988-806), the leading construction and engineering company building infrastructure in Egypt and abroad; Moharram & Partners (tax ID: 616-112-459), the leading public policy and government affairs partner; Palm Hills Developments (tax ID: 432-737-014), a leading developer of commercial and residential properties; Mashreq (tax ID: 204-898-862), the MENA region’s leading homegrown personal and digital bank; Industrial Development Group (IDG) (tax ID:266-965-253), the leading builder of industrial parks in Egypt; Hassan Allam Properties (tax ID:  553-096-567), one of Egypt’s most prominent and leading builders; and Saleh, Barsoum & Abdel Aziz (tax ID: 220-002-827), the leading audit, tax and accounting firm in Egypt.