Good morning, wonderful people, and happy weekend to you all. We’re back this morning with issue two of our rebooted Enterprise Weekend Edition. The Weekend Edition is light on news and heavy on stories to read, videos to watch, and podcasts to which you may want to listen on Friday and Saturday (that being the weekend for the vast majority of our readers).

MUST READS this weekend include Last Week in 3 Minutes (below, for casual readers as well as folks who have been locked in meetings, on vacation, etc, all week), our essential roundup of which cars you can actually buy right now, and Analyze This, which this week focuses on the epidemic of dogs*it littering our city streets.

Enterprise Weekend comes out each Friday at 9:00am CLT. We’ll be back on Sunday at around 6:15am with EnterpriseAM. Until then: Enjoy the weekend.

LAST WEEK IN 3 MINUTES-

It was a busy week on the investment front (and for FDI in particular), with investors pledging to pump money into Egypt to expand their operations in fields ranging from oil and gas to textile and data centers.

#1- DATA CENTERS: El Sewedy Data Centers and the UAE’s Gulf Data Hub plan to invest USD 2.1 bn to build three data center complexes here, which together would form the African continent’s largest data hub.

#2- TEXTILES + APPAREL: A number of Turkish textile and apparel companies plan to invest a combined USD 500 mn to expand their activities here, following a meeting between company reps and Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly.

#3- OIL AND GAS: There were tons of investment pledges from oil and gas firms coming out of the Egypt Petroleum Show (Egyps), with Oil Minister Tarek El Molla saying Egypt could see some USD 8 bn of FDI from oil and gas firms this year. He name-checked Exxon Mobil, BP and Shell as some of the players looking to boost operations locally. Emirati outfit Dana Gas also said it plans to invest USD 100 mn in our oil and gas sector over the next two years, while London-headquartered exploration and production outfit Energean plans to invest USD 350 mn in its Abu Qir concession this year.

BEYOND INVESTMENTS, EGYPS ALSO GOT US TONS OF EXPLORATION + EXPORT UPDATES: On the export front, El Molla said we aim to increase LNG exports by around 40% starting 2025, the majority of which will be earmarked to the European market. Around 80% of the 7.5 mn tons of LNG Egypt exported last year went to Europe, he also said, adding that exports this year are expected to remain flat.

On the exploration front: Croatian oil and gas company INA and UK-based Energean can now begin exploratory drilling at their 50-50 East Bir El Nus concession in the Western Desert. Meanwhile, EGAS and our friends at Cheiron got the green light from the House of Representatives to go drilling for gas west of the Burullus offshore field in the Mediterranean. Global majors Chevron, Shell, and Apache, and tech outfit IBM signed agreements on low(er) carbon projects, crude exports, and digital transformation with the Oil Ministry and affiliated firms.

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WE ALSO GOT UPDATES ON THE STATE PRIVATIZATION PROGRAM-

#1- Two Saudi banks have United Bank on their radar: Riyadh-listed Saudi lenders Riyad Bank and shariah-compliant lender Al Rajhi Bank are reportedly looking to either fully acquire or buy into state-owned United Bank.

#2- Helwan Fertilizers up for grabs to strategic investors? The government is reportedly looking to sell up to 20% of the state-owned Helwan Fertilizers Company to strategic Gulf investors, with PIF and Abu Dhabi’s wealth fund ADQ both eyeing stakes in the fertilizers company.

#3- A new state-owned company that will own a portfolio of seven five-star properties nationwide could offer as much as 20-30% of its shares to private investors. The seven hotels on offer reportedly include the Cairo Marriott Hotel in Zamalek and Marriott Mena House next to the pyramids complex.

#4- Pachin bidders are evaluating their positions: Compass Capital, Eagle Chemicals and the Abu Dhabi-based National Paints Holding (NPH) are reportedly rethinking their takeover bids for EGX-listed Paint and Chemical Industries (Pachin) following its inclusion in the state privatization program.

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AND A HEALTHY DOSE OF M&A NEWS…

Adnoc Distribution completed its acquisition of TotalEnergies, one of Egypt’s largest fuel retailers, while EFG Hermes’ second-largest shareholder, Tim Collins’ Ripplewood, sold two thirds of its position to Abu Dhabi-based investment firm Chimera and JS Holding Ltd. Meanwhile, Gulf investors are said to be interested in taking a piece of a merged Sidi Kerir Petrochemicals / Ethydco once the two complete their tie-up.

ALSO WORTH NOTING- Our external debt dropped for the second consecutive time by 0.5% q-o-q to just under USD 155.0 bn in 1Q FY 2022-2023, down from USD 155.7 bn in the fourth quarter of last fiscal year, according to central bank figures.

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HAPPENING NEXT WEEK-

We could be getting our maiden sovereign sukuk: Egypt is reportedly planning to issue its first sovereign sukuk next week, following a roadshow that should have started last week. The final timing will depend on “market conditions,” sources in the know were quoted as saying.

What to expect: Bloomberg reported that the issuance could be worth up to USD 1.5 bn, while FinMin has previously said it will look to issue USD 1.5-2.5 bn of the shariah-compliant bonds.

Moody’s, meanwhile, has weighed in on an offering worth up to USD 5 bn, having given a (P)B3 rating to a potential USD 5 bn sukuk issuance by the Finance Ministry’s sukuk company. The issuance will be used to “finance investment and development projects included in the economic and social development plan in the state’s general budget,” Moody’s said.

Also: we’ll be keeping an eye out for news from the senate, which will reconvene on Sunday — and for more on the state privatization program, where we understand investment banks have gotten their first mandates for IPOs.

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

☀️ THE WEATHER THIS WEEKEND- It’s going to be a relatively warm and sunny weekend, with daytime highs of 20°C, and overnight lows of 6°C.