From e-finance probably spawning new listings to Alec Baldwin’s accidental shooting, it’s looking like an unusually busy Sunday, ladies and gentlemen.

THE BIG STORIES TODAY so far-

#1- e-Finance could IPO subsidiaries: After its blockbuster IPO last week, state-owned fintech and payments giant e-finance is looking to list two of its subsidiaries, Khales and e-Cards, Chairman Ibrahim Sarhan told Al Mal. The company is looking to spin-off its Khales subsidiary ahead of a potential offering on the bourse, Sarhan reportedly said. Khales itself will split into e-Retail and e-Hub. We are reaching out to e-finance for further details and confirmation on what was said.

#2- Telecom Egypt signed an agreement to obtain a USD 500 mn medium-term syndicated loan, to finance expenses and convert short-term USD overdrafts into longer-term loans, the company said in a statement (pdf).

#3- In tomorrow’s Blackboard: The World Bank wants nations across the world to revamp their post-secondary education systems. We look at their recommendations and analyse how far Egypt has come towards those targets.

^^We’ll have more on these stories and others in tomorrow’s EnterpriseAM.

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

• CBE to hold rates this week: With an eye on rising inflation, the Central Bank of Egypt is expected to keep interest rates on hold when it meets this Thursday, according to our regular poll of economists and analysts.
• e-Finance shares went pop: Shares in state-owned fintech platform and payment infrastructure provider e-Finance jumped 50% in their trading debut on the EGX last Wednesday, in what was Egypt’s biggest IPO since 2015.
• Analysts see GDP growing, but with an “uneven” recovery: Growth of the Egyptian economy will continue to accelerate in FY2021-2022, expanding at a 5.1% clip before climbing to 5.5% in the following two years, a Reuters poll showed.

HAPPENING NOW- Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly is in Paris to sign an agreement with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), according to a cabinet statement. The agreement will set the cooperation framework between Egypt and the OECD. This is separate from the landmark OECD international tax agreement, which Egypt signed up for back in July.

Madbouly is also expected to hold talks with French government officials, French companies interested in investing in Egypt, along with the heads of a number of banks and investment funds, the statement reads.

EU Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Oliver Varhelyi is in town today for Cairo Water Week, and is expected to address climate and environmental issues and hold talks with President Abdel Fattah El Sisi and Water Minister Mohamed Abdel Aty, according to a press statement (pdf). Cairo Water Week kicked off today and will wrap this Thursday, 28 October.

It’s the final day of Le Marché, the Cairo Furniture Show, the MENA region’s largest furniture, material and home accessories exhibition.

A high-level delegation of the UN’s International Fund for Agricultural Development arrived in town yesterday to meet with government officials and visit projects. The delegation will be here through Thursday.

THE BIG STORIES ABROAD-

PSA- Please check your props before using them: Alec Baldwin fatally shot a cinematographer on the set of the upcoming Western film Rust. Halyna Hutchins was killed, while director Joel Souza, who was standing behind her, was wounded. The Hollywood actor was handed a gun to be used as a prop, but it turned out it contained a “live single round,” according to an email sent by International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Variety reports. Court records released yesterday found that the gun was handed to Baldwin by assistant director Dave Halls and told that it was “safe to use”, according to AP and BBC. Real firearms are often used in filming, but are loaded with blanks which create the same flash and bang without discharging a projectile.

El Face is also occupying a significant chunk of the international front pages this afternoon — for all the wrong reasons. Fresh off damning testimony given to Congress by a company whistleblower earlier this month, the under-fire social media company is again attracting heat, this time for its role in fanning ethnic violence and hate speech in India. Documents obtained by the Associated Press show that Facebook failed to curb hate speech on its platforms in India, despite internal researchers warning that they were being used to share violent content and misinformation and that its algorithms were helping to disseminate posts that may have inflamed communal tensions in the Asian country. (AP | NYT | Washington Post | Bloomberg | WSJ).

MARKET WATCH-

Earnings week for big tech: The Big Five — Amazon, Apple, Google parent company Alphabet, Facebook and Microsoft — are all set to release their third-quarter earnings this week. Collectively they make up 22% of the S&P 500, meaning investors will be watching closely to see whether supply-chain disruptions including the chip shortage, regulatory concerns, and rising bond yields have impacted the high-growth stocks.

Most are expecting a strong showing from tech firms, following solid earnings already reported by banks and energy companies, according to Reuters. But with expectations running high, there’s more room to disappoint: "I would expect the potential for more volatility," one wealth manager told the newswire. "We just might get the possibility for some of these big companies to disappoint a little bit."

???? CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

It’s another busy week for conferences and exhibitions in Egypt:

• The European Investment Bank (EIB) will hold a seminar on financing water infrastructure (pdf) on Tuesday, 26 October at the Nile Ritz Carlton.
• A webinar on sustainable transport featuring keynote speeches by EU ambassador to Egypt Christian Berger and Public Enterprises Minister Hisham Tawfik will take place on Tuesday, 26 October at 10am. Register here.
• The two-day Intelligent Cities Exhibition & Conference takes place this Wednesday and Thursday, 27 and 28 October.
• The Middle East Angel Investment Network’s Angel Oasis runs from Wednesday to Friday in El Gouna, with separate pricing for in-person and virtual attendance.

Check out our full calendar on the web for a comprehensive listing of upcoming news events, national holidays and news triggers.

☀️ TOMORROW’S WEATHER- Expect an afternoon high of 29°C tomorrow, with the mercury falling to 17°C at night, according to our favorite weather app.