Good morning, wonderful people, and welcome to our final issue of EnterpriseAM for 2021. We hope the year has been kind to you and that you’re looking forward to 2022 as much as we are.

THANK YOU, all of you, for choosing to start and end your days with us. Writing to a group of people as smart and kind as you is the highlight of our professional career. We could literally not ask for a better audience.

Our final issue of the year is packed with our final look-back at 2021: Capital markets, M&A, and investment. We won’t be publishing tomorrow, but you will find a special edition of Your Wealth to keep you company this Friday, 31 December. EnterpriseAM will be back in your inboxes on Sunday morning to welcome the new year.

It’s a great note on which to end the year: Egyptian and foreign here companies are investing more. They’re engaged in tons of M&A. And IPOs staged a solid comeback, thanks in no small part to the state’s resurgent privatization program.

***WANT TO HAVE BREAKFAST WITH US? Every year, we ask our readers to weigh in on what you expect for the year ahead in our Enterprise Reader Poll. Take a few minutes to give us your take on the outlook for your business and industry, whether you’re planning fresh investments and new hires, and how your business fared in the year past. We’ll share the results with the entire community in early January to help you shape your view of the year — and will invite eight of you to break bread with us. Another dozen of you who complete the poll will also get special Enterprise mugs to enjoy your morning beverage of choice.

PSA- The weather forecast for the weekend keeps changing, but it’s still looking like we’ll be welcoming the new year with lots of precipitation in Cairo, Alexandria and beyond. Folks in the capital city can expect as much as 5 mm of rain tomorrow, 3 mm on Friday, 10 mm on Sunday and scattered showers both Saturday and Monday, according to our favourite weather app.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD on this late 2021 day: It was a “blockbuster” year globally as companies raised more than USD 12 tn in combined equity and debt, thanks in no small part to central bank stimulus, according to the lead story in the Financial Times.

Good bad news on omicron: The US just set a record for new daily cases, the New York Times reports, but CNBC notes that infection with the comparatively mild omicron strain could be protective again the delta variant, according to a study out of South Africa.

LOOKING AHEAD- Washington and Moscow are sitting down for security talks scheduled for 10, 12, and 13 January, to discuss military activity and developments in Ukraine as tensions rise between the two countries, reported Reuters. The talks will include NATO, Ukraine, and other former Soviet Union states.

*** It’s Hardhat day — your weekly briefing of all things infrastructure in Egypt: Enterprise’s industry vertical focuses each Wednesday on infrastructure, covering everything from energy, water, transportation, urban development and social infrastructure such as health and education.

In today’s issue: It’s déjà vu on the infrastructure front in 2021, with supply chain issues slowing everything down from ports, to automotive parts, to maritime shipping and the green economy. How did your industry fare?