Well, friends, we’ve made it through another week together — we wish you all a phenomenal long weekend with family and friends.

THE BIG STORY TODAY- The National Investment Bank, a development institution owned by the state, is not actually being wound down or liquidated, but is being restructured, NIB said in a statement earlier today. We have chapter and verse in this afternoon’s Speed Round, below.

ALSO IN BANKING- Banque Misr is reportedly going to be the first state-owned bank to issue green bonds, bank Vice Chairman Akef El Maghraby reportedly told Al Mal in an interview. We plan to dive deeper into the story in Sunday’s EnterpriseAM.

** CATCH UP QUICK on the top stories from today’s EnterpriseAM:

• Travelers can now ask for J&J: J&J jabs and QR code-bearing vaccination certificates are now available to still-unvaccinated citizens and residents who need to travel, with requests to be responded to within 72 hours.
• ADQ’s Agthia may finalize its acquisition of Atyab this month: ADQ Holding’s food subsidiary Agthia is in the final stages of acquiring 75% of Atyab brand owner Ismailia Agricultural and Industrial Investments in an agreement valued at up to EGP 3.2 bn.
• Two commodity trading houses will build an EGP 2.2 bn bulk grain terminal in East Port Said under a contract with the Egyptian government.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD- It’s a dog’s breakfast in terms of international business news. The big story out of the Gulf is that UAE-based, formerly LSE-listed hospital operator NMC is preparing to exit administration (pdf), which it entered last year after it “ran into trouble last year after the disclosure of more than USD 4 bn in hidden debt left many UAE and overseas lenders with heavy losses,” Reuters said. NMC is no longer a player in Egypt, having sold its 51.5% stake in Alexandria Medical to Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank in a transaction first reported this past January. Alex Medical is now the subject of a heated (and fairly protracted) bidding war (here, here, here and here). NMC was a flag carrier of Mideast companies that were aiming to go public on the London Stock Exchange.

Further afield: Democrats passed a USD 3.5 tn budget bill, which passed 50-49 along party lines and could “complicate efforts” to get a USD 1 tn infrastructure funding package through the House of Representatives, the Financial Times reports. The Wall Street Journal and Reuters are also leading with the story.

MEANWHILE- The White House is going to call on OPEC to boost oil production as gasoline prices rise in the United States. Guess Uncle Joe is going to have to make nice with KSA at least a little bit?

KUDOS- Orascom Construction and Belgium-based BESIX were behind the successful (and gorgeous) transport of the King Khufu Solar Boat that took place last weekend. The transport required extraordinary technical feats to ensure that the oldest intact ship in the world remained undamaged, they said in an emailed statement. The boat now resides within a dedicated building at the soon-to-be-opened Grand Egyptian Museum.

???? FOR YOUR COMMUTE-

A liter of Coca-Cola creates 346 grams of carbon dioxide emissions, the company’s data suggests — that’s a little less than half the carbon footprint of a single mega roll of Charmin Ultra Soft toilet paper. This type of math is going to be increasingly common among listed companies of all sizes (and, possibly, even for non-listed businesses that want finance from major banks). Go read Companies grapple with climate change math in the Wall Street Journal.

You’re finally going to be able to stream CNN next year. Except, not really? CNN plans to launch a for-pay streaming service in 2022 — but it won’t be the CNN that you can watch on satellite or as part of a pay-TV bundle. Instead, the company is planning to launch a separate streamer — and Twitter is awash in fairly high-profile journalists saying that they’re joining CNN+ for launch next year. Recode’s Peter Kafka isn’t terribly sure that this makes sense. CNN+’s website (it’s just a placeholder right now) is here.

A number of Wall Street banks are revising downwards their outlook for US treasury yields, thanks to a rally this summer in the USD 22 tn US government bond market — a bedrock of the global financial system, the Financial Times reports. The 10-year US treasury yields, which sank to 1.13% this month amid sharp increases in state debt, will likely not top 2% by the end of the year as previously predicted, but are likely to rise to 1.8% by December — from 1.31% at present, investment bank analysts forecast. “Getting to 2% from here would be a pretty sharp adjustment,” one bank strategist says, “There’s a feedback effect which means risk assets will be hit and some money will flow back into Treasuries. It’s a natural brake on rising yields.”

US cyber security firm NortonLifeLock has agreed to acquire its European counterpart Avast in an agreement worth more than USD 8 bn, according to a press release. The move comes as worries about cybercrime intensify and Norton aims to swoop in with its online protection services. The combined business will be listed on Nasdaq but be dual headquartered in Prague and Arizona.

Uber and Toyota-backed flying taxi firm Joby Aviation has listed on the New York Stock Exchange today with the aim of gaining USD 1.6 bn in new financing, according to a press release. The listing will be conducted through the merger with a SPAC called Reinvent Technology Partners, in the latest SPAC-fueled IPO. Joby has promised to build and operate a commercial fleet of aerial taxis by 2024, in what will be a more environmentally friendly alternative to ground-based transportation. The California-based firm is a market leader in the flying aircrafts industry which is estimated by Morgan Stanley to be worth USD 1 tn by 2040, writes Bloomberg.

???? ON THE TUBE TONIGHT-
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We couldn’t highlight reality shows without mentioning these gems: Romance-based reality shows are a guilty pleasure for (some of) us at the Enterprise World HQ, acting as the subject of great balcony conversations during breaktime. Netflix has quite a few on offer, each more dramatic and scandalous than the next. Are You The One is an epic saga of 10 men and 10 women put together in a house and challenged with figuring out who their “perfect match” is — as decided by a team of matchmakers on the show. There’s also Love is Blind which aims to set up more ‘sustainable’ reality show couples by having participants have conversations without ever physically seeing who they’re talking to. When they start to have feelings for each other, they propose and act as a married couple for a few weeks before standing at an altar and deciding if they want to stay married. There’s also a show called [Redacted] Beasts that has a similar premise, but without the marriage bit. Finally, Too Hot To Handle, is a hormone-driven show that puts a ton of attractive young people together at a destination resort and tells them there’s a ban on physical contact.

[Editor’s note: The olds among us would rather gouge our eyes out than watch a single episode of any of the above. The age gap is alive and well at Enterprise.]

[Except that one of the olds just found that two of the other olds love them. There are no words.]

⚽ The Premier League is back on Friday: The first match of the season sees Arsenal and newly-promoted Brentford face off on Friday starting at 9pm. Saturday has a flurry of games throughout the day to keep you busy: Man United will play Leeds at 1:30pm, while at 4pm Leicester City is up against Wolves, Chelsea take on Crystal Palace, newly-promoted Watford meet Aston Villa, Everton clashes with Southampton, and Burnley kick off against Brighton. Finally, also-newly-introduced Norwich City is up against Liverpool on Saturday at 6:30pm.

Also making our Friday better is La Liga, which will start the season with Valencia and Getafe tomorrow at 9pm. On Saturday, Osasuna is playing Espanyol at 5pm, Mallorca is up against Real Betis at 7:30pm, Cadiz will play Levante at 7:30pm, and Alaves will end the day with a match against Real Madrid at 10pm.

IN OTHER FOOTBALL NEWS- Messi has officially signed with PSG: Paris Saint-Germain has agreed with Lionel Messi on a two-year contract worth GBP 25 mn per year after tax plus bonuses, with the option of extending the agreement for another year, reports Sky Sports. The footballer will also receive a GBP 25 mn sign on fee and will retain his no. 30 jersey which he wore for Barcelona before his emotional departure.

PSG will play their first match in France’s Ligue 1 on Saturday at 9pm against Strasbourg. It is unclear whether Messi will be in the lineup.

???? EAT THIS TONIGHT-

It’s simple — go to Eatery. We’re sure the one in Diplo is just fine, but we’re very (very) partial to the location at Seashell. On the dinner menu, the lobster linguini is to die for (and has been consistently good on three separate visits) and the tomahawk steak (seared tableside) is similarly good. In fact, it’s the first time we’ve ordered meat in at Egyptian restaurant that was, if anything, slightly under-done (and not charred to a crisp). If you’re offered butter on top, do yourself a favour and say “Yes.” Eatery bills the tomahawk as being enough to feed two people, and they’re right. But real carnivores will want to skip lunch and order it for one. Are you a teenager with a toddler’s appetite for culinary experimentation? Go with their pizzas (thin crust, crazy thick and wonderfully doughy outer edges) or the spaghetti in red sauce. In the mood for breakfast? The resident 14-year-old recommends the waffles, and the eggs and sausages were perfect. Expect impeccable (and fast) service.

???? OUT AND ABOUT-
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J.J Quartet are performing at The Room Garden City tomorrow at 9pm. The band plays bop-era and post bop-era jazz.

Standup comedy crew The Elite are taking the stage at El Sawy Culturewheel tomorrow at 8pm.

???? UNDER THE LAMPLIGHT-

Keeping up talk on climate change after the alarming UN report: The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming by David Wallace-Wells started off as an article in New York Magazine. It immediately gained popularity and became the most read article in the magazine’s history, prompting Wallace-Wells to turn the subject matter into a book. The long-form climate change prose tries to imagine what the world would be like if runaway climate change persists and covers everything from urban living to the human body to geopolitics. The Uninhabitable Earth is a call to action that puts a devastating future into descriptive words and scenarios. If you think rising sea levels are the worst of what is yet to come, you’re barely scratching the surface. Think food shortages, refugee emergencies, climate wars and economic devastation — all of which we can already start to see now.

☀️ TOMORROW’S WEATHER- Expect temperatures of 40°C over the weekend, which after last week feels like a reprieve. The mercury will fall to 26°C at night, our favorite weather app indicates. Sahel is the place to be during the long weekend, with temperatures between 32-34°C over the next few days and 22°C during the nights.