Today seemed like a slow day — until it became the exact opposite of that. We’re flush with news today, ladies and gentlemen, from a flurry of M&A activity to more indications from global markets that Egypt could have an opening to ramp up LNG exports to Europe.

But first, a couple of mea culpas: In yesterday’s edition of EnterpriseAM, we appear to have linked to the incorrect Visit Egypt website. The correct website is here. We also incorrectly said in yesterday’s EnterprisePM that the Arab African International Leasing is issuing USD 500-600 mn of securitized bonds next year. The correct figure is EGP 500-600 mn, not USD. The entry has since been updated on our website.

SO, WHEN DO WE EAT? You’ll be breaking your fast at 6:20pm CLT this evening in the capital city, and fajr prayers are at 4:02am.

THE BIG STORY TODAY

ADQ appears to have arrived: Leading private sector bank CIB, fintech player Fawry, and state-owned Abu Qir Fertilizers, Mopco, and Alexandria Container & Cargo Handling have each seen block transactions on their shares today, according to news bulletins from the EGX. Although the bulletins did not disclose the buyers, from what we know of the companies and Bloomberg Asharq citing sources it says have knowledge of the matter that the buyer is indeed Abu Dhabi wealth fund ADQ. The bulletins note that it has bought stakes in five EGX-listed companies for around USD 1.8 bn from state-owned Banque Misr and the National Bank of Egypt. ADQ has been looking at state-held stakes in EGX-listed companies as part of a USD 2 bn investment agreed last month.

ALSO: Egypt is looking to buy wheat outside of tenders, through direct offers made to the Supply Ministry, in a bid to maximize its supplies amid disruptions resulting from the Russia-Ukraine war, Bloomberg reports, citing ministry sources. GASC currently only books cargoes through official tenders, where Russia and Ukraine account for around 80% of our wheat supply.

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

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

• GASC is tendering again — but only for European wheat: State grain buyer the General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC) issued yesterday a limited tender for an unspecified amount of European wheat, with the tender only open to European suppliers already accredited in GASC’s tender book.
• The Senate approved yesterday the Unified Ins. Act, which, once passed in the House of Representatives, would grant the Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA) broad new powers to regulate the sector and mandates economic courts with adjudicating disputes under the act.
• OPay is expanding in Egypt: Nigerian fintech player OPay is preparing to expand its footprint in Egypt, launching pre-paid cards and linking up with the central bank’s new digital payment app less than a year after it first entered the country.

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THE BIG STORY ABROAD

It’s all about energy markets: The global business press is focused squarely this afternoon on how the markets and policymakers are looking to contain the fallout from the EU’s imminent embargo on Russian oil imports. US President Joe Biden is expected to announce later today a temporary measure easing restrictions on ethanol levels in petrol sold at the pump, the Financial Times reports, citing a senior administration official. The national emergency waiver, which will raise the maximum ethanol content in petrol by five percentage points for the summer season, is meant to help rein in inflation as fuel prices soared on the back of the Russia-Ukraine war.

Meanwhile, the International Group of Liquefied Natural Gas Importers is encouraging LNG producers to ramp up LNG developments to “stabilize” the global trade, as the EU is expected to shift to buy more LNG as a replacement for Russian oil, Reuters reports. As we noted previously, this shift could be a golden window for Egypt to begin exporting more liquefied natural gas to Europe, which was a topic of conversation between EU Executive Vice-President Frans Timmermans and several government officials during his visit to Cairo this week.

By the numbers: WTI crude futures for May delivery are up 4.1% to USD 98.15 per barrel, while Brent crude futures for June delivery are currently trading at USD 102.67 per barrel, up 4.3% today. Natural gas contracts for May are up 2.2% to USD 6.79.

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Companies have a little over one week to file their first quarterly ESG compliance report: Listed firms and non-bank financial services companies need to submit their first quarterly ESG report by 20 April, the Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA) announced last week. The regulator is making it mandatory for corporates to publicly disclose their performance on key environmental, social and governance metrics each year when they submit their annual financial statements, starting 2023.

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☀️ TOMORROW’S WEATHER- Expect a daytime high of 27°C tomorrow while the mercury will fall to 12°C at night, according to our favorite weather app.