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Thursday, 8 March 2018

What we’re tracking on 08 March 2018

Greetings from Dubai, where we will shortly join every listed company from Omm El Donia in boarding planes back home to spend the weekend with family. Today, we have the next-to-last installment of our coverage from here in the form of an interview with EFG Hermes Frontier boss Ali Khalpey. On Sunday, we’ll bring you a sit-down with our friend Mohamed Ebeid, co-CEO of the firm’s investment bank. Our talk with Ali appears in today’s Spotlight, after Speed Round, below.

Egypt is fielding proposals from 10 investment banks to manage its EUR 1-1.5 bn eurobond issuance in April, Finance Minister Amr El Garhy said yesterday, according to Al Mal. El Garhy had said earlier this week that Egypt will settle on the winning banks within two weeks. 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. Vice Minister of Finance Ahmed Kouchouk also told the newspaper that the ministry is hoping to attract interest from “different types” of investors than those it attracted in its USD-denominated issuance.

Separately, El Garhy confirmed that the government has nixed its plans to issue yuan-denominated bonds (known as Panda bonds), Al Masry Al Youm reports.

Government to sign new agreements with AFD today: Investment Minister Sahar Nasr and Transport Minister Hisham Arafat will sign a number of agreements today with the French Development Agency (AFD) and French Embassy in Cairo, according to an emailed statement. Details on the agreements were not disclosed, but we’re expecting them to cover fresh financing for the Cairo Metro and Alex tramway development projects, to which the AFD has already committed EUR 300 mn and EUR 100 mn, respectively. Arafat had been in meetings with the agency to discuss additional funding packages and was said to be signing two agreements with the AFD, one each in May and September, for both projects.

Egypt is participating in the ITB Berlin Convention, which kicked off yesterday and wraps on 11 March in Germany. A number of Egyptian tour companies and hotel operators are participating in the exhibition. Full details are available here.

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