What we’re tracking on 15 October 2018
** #5 Our friends at Sarwa Capital will ring the bell at the EGX this morning as their shares make their bourse debut, opening at EGP 7.36 each under the ticker SRWA. A stabilization fund is at work for the first month of trading. Beltone was sole global coordinator and bookrunner for the transaction, while Matouk Bassiouny was legal counsel.
Asian markets opened lower this morning, suggesting “a rebound in global equities Friday saw no traction at the start of the week.” Skim Bloomberg’s Asian markets tables here for the latest. This comes after the EGX30 held its ground yesterday, rallying 1.9%.
** #6 Are property values on the west side of town about to go up? Sphinx International Airport in Giza will begin trial operations today as the facility enters its soft opening phase, state-news agency MENA reports. A functioning international airport could boost appetite for housing in Six October and Sheikh Zayed, among other points to the west, and open them to international companies that require proximity to airports in choosing neighborhoods for headquarters and staff housing.
Today is the last day to pay your real estate taxes without penalty if you own more than one property or a property worth more than EGP 2 mn, Real Estate Tax Authority head Samia Hussein told Hona Al Asema last night. It seems you can expect aggressive enforcement: The authority has collected EGP 1.6 bn in real estate taxes in the last three months out of a targeted EGP 6 bn, she added (watch, runtime: 7:39). The deadline to file for exemptions for those with properties valued at less than EGP 2 mn was extended to 30 June, 2019.
President Abdel Fattah El Sisi arrives in Moscow today for a three-day visit. El Sisi is expected to meet with President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and will also address Russia’s upper house of parliament. We have chapter and verse in Diplomacy + Foreign Trade, below.
The UK’s Minister of State for the Middle East and North Africa is in town to look into ways to increase the UK’s support foreducation and entrepreneurship in Egypt, according to a statement from the British Embassy. Alistair Burt met yesterday with Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry.