It’s a semi-news dump day type of hump day, ladies and gentlemen, with just enough going on to propel us through the midweek slump.

THE BIG STORY TODAY

EFG Hermes’ energy investment platform Vortex Energy has invested EUR 222 mn to date into Spanish solar developer Ignis Energia, fulfilling the terms of its agreement with the renewables player, EFG Hermes said in a press release (pdf). Vortex plans to double its investments in Ignis by 2023, with a c. EUR 46 mn investment planned for 4Q 2022, and another EUR 176 mn investment in 1Q 2023 — bringing total investments in the firm to EUR 444 mn. Earlier unconfirmed reports had indicated that EFG’s equity investment would give it a 49% stake in Ignis.

The public placement for Ghazl El Mahalla FC’s EGP 98 mn IPO will begin on Sunday, 12 June, and will last until the beginning of July, according to a press release (pdf). The company has set its share price at EGP 1.02. The small retail offering has been approved by the Financial Regulatory Authority, paving the way for the football club to go ahead with the sale by late July or early August, Mohamed Maher, head of bookrunner Prime Holding Mohamed Maher previously told Enterprise.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD

It’s another day of international headlines being thoroughly mixed. The status of Ukrainian wheat shipments is still getting some play, after Russia said today that the Berdyansk and Mariupol ports are ready to restart grain exports after removing what it says were Ukrainian mines, according to Reuters. On the business and economy side of the news flow, investor fears about growth and monetary policy are muting equity markets in Europe and US futures, and weighing on oil prices. WTI Crude and Brent Crude both slipped 0.4%, with WTI trading at USD 118.05 per barrel, while international benchmark Brent is currently priced at USD 119.02 per barrel. The story is getting ink from Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal.

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

• Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly has directed the Finance Ministry to update its plan for the state privatization program, including preparing a timeline for stake sales in state-owned firms and how much of each company could be on offer.
• A handful of MPs are less than thrilled with the government’s plan to offer a stake in the company it will create through a merger of seven or eight state-owned hotels, which have yet to be determined.
• Elevate takes a leap into leasing: Our friends at Elevate Private Equity have landed approval in principle from the Financial Regulatory Authority to set up a financial leasing arm as the healthcare management company looks to branch out into non-banking financial services

CORRECTION- We incorrectly stated in this morning’s EnterpriseAM that companies in the telecoms sector would be given access to the central bank’s soft loans scheme for tourism companies. The Central Bank of Egypt has extended the program to cover telecoms maintenance and upgrade costs for tourism companies. The story has since been corrected on our website.

???? CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

The Digital Transformation Summit gets underway this Thursday, 9 June, bringing together public and private sector players in the tech industries to share and discuss views on the current landscape of the market, recent tech innovations, and proposed strategies.

NEWS TRIGGERS you’ll want to keep an eye on this month:

• Inflation figures for May are due out on Saturday, 9 June (from state statistics agency Capmas) and Sunday, 12 June (central bank figures);
• The Central Bank of Egypt holds its policy meeting on Thursday, 23 June.

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

☀️ TOMORROW’S WEATHER- The mercury is reaching 40°C tomorrow as the current heat wave continues, our favorite weather app tells us. It’ll get cooler at night as temperatures drop to 27°C.