It’s the unofficial investment issue, ladies and gentlemen, with major FDI and local investments worth EGP 1 bn and above leading headlines in the local press.

THE BIG STORIES TODAY-

State banks and Global Ventures launch USD 85 mn fund: Banque Misr, the National Bank of Egypt, Banque du Caire have teamed up UAE-based MENA VC firm Global Ventures to launch the USD 85 mn Nclude fund, according to a statement (pdf) this morning from Global Ventures. Other investors include state-owned e-Finance and the Egyptian Banks Company, according to a separate statement from e-Finance (pdf). The fund will focus on fintech and digital payments solutions, and has already made investments in startups including Khazna, Paymob, Mozare3 and Lucky.

Another green ammonia plant in the SCZone? We also have a consortium made up of France’s EDF Renewables and Egypt’s ZeroWaste reportedly in talks with the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone) over a potential USD 1 bn green ammonia plant that would be used as fuel for ships, SCZone head Yehia Zaki told Enterprise, confirming a report from Al Borsa. The plant would have an annual production capacity of 219k tons per year.

Intro to invest EGP 1 bn with foreign acquisitions and potential IPO in the works: Then we have Intro Sustainable Resources (IRS), which is targeting investments worth EGP 1 bn into recycling this year, Al Mal quotes company CEO Mostafa Khairat as saying. The company is also looking at possible acquisitions in Africa and the GCC as part of a foreign expansion and could consider an IPO in 2023 to fund further expansions, Khairat is reported to have said.

^^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 raise interest rates this week -poll: The Central Bank of Egypt will likely raise interest rates for the first time in 16 months when it meets this Thursday, a move that the majority of analysts and economists we polled see as significant to curb inflation that has been pushed to a three-year high by the war in Ukraine.
• Egypt is hoping to lure tourists from several European countries and the United States to our beach resorts with a new promotional campaign that’s hoped to help fill the gap left by the loss of Russian and Ukrainian tourists, two of the country’s most important tourism markets.
• Eni to work with Egypt + others to find alternative gas for Europe: Eni pledged to bring more than 14 tn cubic feet of additional gas to the global market and mitigate Europe’s energy crisis by “leveraging established alliances with producing countries,” including Egypt.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD-

Russia has reportedly bombed a school in Ukraine’s Mariupol, which its forces appear to be closing in on after weeks of failing to capture any major cities in Ukraine, Bloomberg reports. Some 400 civilians were hiding out in the school, but there is no official confirmation so far on the death toll from the attack, according to Reuters. Ukrainian civilians are being evacuated through seven new humanitarian corridors Kyiv and Moscow agreed to open up today, including from Mariupol to Zaporozhye, as well as villages in the Kiev and Kharkiv regions, Russian news agency Interfax said. “Several thousand” residents have been evacuated from Mariupol to Russian territory over the past week, Mariupol’s city council said, according to Reuters.

Russia also said it launched a hypersonic missile and cruise missiles to destroy fuel and ammunition depots in Ukraine, according to Interfax. The cruise missiles were deployed from the Black and Caspian seas, while the hypersonic missile was launched from Crimean airspace, Russia’s defense ministry said. Ukraine has confirmed the hypersonic attack, with a presidential aide saying the move comes as Russia is forced to use “more destructive artillery.”

Regrouping to capture the capital: Russian forces are expected to launch a fresh attack on Kyiv in a bid to take the Ukrainian capital as their chokehold on Mariupol tightens, Ukrainian military officials said, according to the Financial Times. The regrouping comes as “Ukrainian forces have defeated the initial Russian campaign of this war…[which aimed] to seize Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odessa, and other major Ukrainian cities to force a change of government in Ukraine,” the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said in its latest update. Russia’s best chance of success at capturing the capital would be pausing to draw up plans and build resources for a fresh campaign, but is instead “continuing to feed small collections of reinforcements,” which ISW expects to fail.

THIS WEEK-

Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry is on a tour of Asia that will take him to Singapore and Pakistan later this week. The minister has in recent days made whistle stops in Indonesia and Malaysia.

The Egyptian German Green Energy Forum will take place at the Intercontinental Cairo Semiramis hotel on Tuesday 22 March at 5:30pm. The event is hosted by the German-Arab Chamber of Industry.

The three-day maritime logistics conference Marlog kicked off today at the Hilton Green Plaza hotel in Alexandria.

CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

Catalyst Partners will launch what it is calling the MENA region’s first impact investing fund on Tuesday 22 March, the firm said in a statement (pdf) last week. The fund was founded by the Ins. Holding Company, Misr Ins., Misr Life, Misr Finance and Investment Fund, Banque du Caire, Post For Investments, and Attijariwafa Bank, and aims to deploy EGP 1 bn in local SMEs over the next five years.

EV-charging bid deadline extended: The Public Enterprises Ministry has extended the deadline for companies applying to manage the soon-to-be-established EV charging stations company to Thursday, 24 March, after the deadline expired last Thursday, the cabinet announced in a statement. Three companies have told the government they want to take part in the project so far, according to the statement.

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 a daytime high of 19°C and a nighttime low of 9°C, our favorite weather app tells us.