Happy Monday, friends. We bring to you an unusually quiet afternoon on the news front, as the international press is squarely focused on Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral and the local press appears to be watching along as well.

THE BIG STORY TODAY

The bidding war for Alex Medical is back: UAE’s Yas Holding (formerly known as Emirates Advanced Investments) has adjusted the price for shares of Alexandria Medical to EGP 48.62 per share, the Financial Regulatory Authority said in a statement (pdf). The current share price values Alex Medical at EGP 757 mn, up 10.5% from their previous offer in June last year.

FROM THE DIPLOMACY WORLD-

The Israeli government approved plans to make the Negev summit an annual event, the office of the Israeli prime minister said yesterday, a move that will consolidate Tel Aviv’s diplomatic and security ties with its Arab allies. Senior officials from Egypt, Israel, the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco and the US have met twice this year to discuss regional issues in what some commentators have framed as a major geopolitical realignment in the region. The six countries agreed in June to deepen ties in a range of areas including clean energy, education, food and water security and health, as well as regional security.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD

Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral is dominating the front pages of the international press this afternoon: World leaders and foreign royals gathered in London today to bid Queen Elizabeth one last farewell. US president Joe Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron, and Emperor Naruhito of Japan are among the 500 world leaders attending the state funeral service at Westminster Abbey, which is currently ongoing. A crowd of one mn mourners are expected in central London for the funeral. The story is getting plenty of coverage in international press: Reuters | Financial Times | The Guardian | The Independent | the Washington Post

HAPPENING NOW-

Shoukry in New York for UN General Assembly session: Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry is in New York to participate in the high-level meetings ahead of the UN General Assembly session. The general debate for the 2022 session will take place from Tuesday, 20 September to Monday, 26 September.

Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh is in Cairo for a three-day visit focused on bolstering defense ties.

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

• The EGX is in “serious talks” with five or six private sector companies to list on the bourse, with the negotiations currently at an “advanced stage,” new EGX boss Ramy El Dokany said.
• Egyptian shares suffered their biggest single-day loss since early July yesterday amid growing investor concerns about global growth, driving the benchmark EGX30 index to fall 3.1% during trading, reaching its lowest level in seven weeks.

???? CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

The Central Bank of Egypt will meet to discuss interest rates on Thursday, and the signs are pointing towards a third hike of 2022. Six of seven analysts and economists surveyed in our regular poll expect the Monetary Policy Committee to raise rates as inflation rises and the EGP continues to weaken.

Make that seven of eight: HC Securities sees the central bank raising rates by 100 bps on Thursday and another 100 bps in the November meeting due to Egypt’s deteriorating external position and expectations for inflation to accelerate in the coming months.

Intellectual property strategy coming this week: Egypt will launch its intellectual property strategy on Wednesday. World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Director-General Daren Tang will make an appearance at a ceremony being put on to launch the program.

FURTHER AFIELD-

HSBC is hosting an energy transition webinar series next Tuesday-Thursday, 27-29 September. The series will look at the “latest climate analysis in relation to the global energy market and transition to net zero” in six different sessions covering energy security, what is required to ensure the success of COP27, financing and investment needs for the energy transition, and the scaling up of renewables in the region, among other topics. You can register for the series here.

WANT TO READ MORE about the region’s energy transition? Read HSBC’s Group Head, Centre of Sustainable Finance and Head of Climate Change Middle East, North Africa and Turkey Zoe Knight’s op-ed on the Middle East’s energy transition and the access to capital that’s needed to help drive that shift.

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

☀️ TOMORROW’S WEATHER- Temperatures in Cairo will hit 35°C tomorrow during the day before falling to 21°C at night, our favorite weather app tells us.