Mercedes-Benz will set up a logistics center in Ain Sokhna under an agreement with the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone), according to a statement. Established within the SCZone, this is a step forward to support the auto industry in the area, SCZone Chairman Yehia Zaki said. The center will include a car storage facility and maintenance facility.

A precursor to something bigger? Government sources told us in October that the German auto giant could soon resume assembling passenger cars in Egypt following a five-year hiatus. We haven’t heard anything from the company or the government since.

Pioneers board signs off on three-way split: Pioneers Holding shareholders approved on Saturday plans to split the firm into three separate entities focused on financial services, real estate and industrial development each, the company said in an EGX filing (pdf). The vertical spin-off — first announced in 2019 — will see a split of the company’s real estate and industrial investment businesses into subsidiaries Pioneers Properties and Gadwa Industrial Developments, with Pioneers Holding remaining the parent company and financial services arm.

Egypt is still trying to extradite Mohamed Ali: An Egyptian court has called on Interpol to issue an order for the arrest of exiled contractor / dissident Mohamed Ali and two others on charges of spreading fake news and joining an illegal group. In 2019, a series of viral videos by Ali alleging that officials had misused public funds led to a wave of small anti-government protests around the country.