Good afternoon, wonderful people. It’s a relatively calm start to the week, after last week saw the news cycle dominated by macro, trade, and diplomacy news.

THE BIG STORY TODAY

TotalEnergies minority shareholder undecided on exercising preemption rights in Adnoc acquisition: Private equity outfit B Investments is “evaluating all options” after Adnoc agreed to buy 50% of TotalEnergies Egypt last week, B Investments IR head Omar El Labban told Enterprise. The PE firm is the sole minority shareholder in TotalEnergies Egypt. Its board has until 29 August to decide whether to exercise its preemption rights or allow the sale to go ahead and exit its c. 15.4% stake in the filling station chain, according to a disclosure to the EGX (pdf).

THE BIG STORY ABROAD

It’s a rather mixed afternoon across the international business press, with no single story dominating the conversation. Among the stories getting play: China reported a drop in factory activity last month as it grappled with fresh covid-19 outbreaks (CNBC) while Saudi Arabia recorded its fastest pace of growth since 2011 in 2Q 2022 (Bloomberg).

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

• Adnoc is buying 50% of filling station chain TotalEnergies Egypt: The distribution arm of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) has agreed to acquire 50% of TotalEnergies Egypt. Adnoc Distribution could pay up to USD 203 mn for the shares.
• Swvl has terminated its acquisition of UK-based Zeelo: Cairo-born mass transport app Swvl will not be acquiring UK startup Zeelo, after the two companies said they were calling off the transaction due to turmoil in financial markets.
• GlobalCorp plans to issue EGP 1.5 bn in securitized bonds this year. The non-bank lender late last year issued the first EGP 985 mn tranche of a EGP 5 bn securitization program, which it was aiming to complete by 2023.

*** It’s Inside Industry day — your weekly briefing of all things industrial in Egypt. Inside Industry focuses each Sunday on what it takes to turn Egypt into a manufacturing and export powerhouse, ranging from initial investment and planning to product distribution, through to land allocation to industrial processes, supply chain management, labor, automation and technology, inputs and exports, regulation and policy.

In today’s issue: As part of its series of public consultations on the government’s state ownership policy document, pharma industry players gathered last week to give their input on what they want to see from the government to give the sector a boost. The majority of industry players we spoke with agreed that the biggest issue currently facing the sector is the growing gap between costs and revenues, as securing raw materials is becoming pricier while product pricing remains unchanged.

???? CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

We’ll find out how much of Beltone Financial will be acquired by Chimera this week: Shareholders have until Wednesday, 3 August, to subscribe to Chimera Investment’s mandatory tender offer for the financial services firm. The Abu Dhabi-based investment firm has already acquired a 56% stake in Beltone after Orascom Financial last week agreed to sell its shares. Chimera is offering to pay EGP 1.485 per share for up to 90% of Beltone, valuing it at around EGP 690 mn.

PMI out on Wednesday: We’ll get an idea of how the private sector fared in July when S&P Global releases its latest purchasing managers’ index (PMI) on Wednesday. The index fell to its lowest level in two years in June as surging inflation hit demand and output.

The National Dialogue board will talk about the economy this week: The board of trustees overseeing preparations for the National Dialogue will meet Wednesday to discuss the economic agenda. We have more on last week’s meeting in Last Night’s Talk Shows, below.

LATER THIS MONTH-

• Foreign reserves figures for July will likely be released at the end of this week or the beginning of the next;
• Inflation data for July will land on Wednesday, 10 August.
• Interest rates: The Central Bank of Egypt will meet to discuss interest rates on 18 August.

High-speed rail: Coming in November? President Abdel Fattah El Sisi wants to inaugurate the first line of the 660-km, Ain Sokhna-Marsa Matrouh phase of the high-speed rail link on 7 November, a cabinet statement read. The government is currently in talks with Siemens to provide the first trains for the line by November instead of in mid-2023, as was originally planned. The Siemens, Orascom Construction and Arab Contractors consortium has already begun to install tracks, systems and power cables for the line.

☀️ TOMORROW’S WEATHER- Expect another warm day in the capital city, with the temperature hitting a daytime high of 38°C and a nighttime low of 25°C, our favorite weather app tells us.