Zilla Capital, the leading investment bank in Egypt has successfully concluded advising the Egyptian Belgian Company
We are happy to announce that Zilla Capital, the leading investment bank in Egypt has successfully concluded advising the Egyptian Belgian Company (Egybelg) on the sale of its entire bakery business assets to Savola Foods Limited, a subsidiary of Savola Group for EGP622 MN.
Egybelg is a consumer goods firm that manufactures and distributes bakery goods. It owns a modern factory in Cairo and had owned the bakery brand Ole. This acquisition comes as part of Savola’s plan to invest more than EGP1.7 BN in Egypt until the end of 2024, according to Savola’s CEO Sameh Hassan said.
Adsero was EgyBelg’s legal adviser while Al Ahly Pharos and Zaki Hashem & Partners were the buy-side financial and legal advisors, respectively to Savola. National Bank of Egypt was the Escrow Agent for the transaction.
- The Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the US-based Chevron Corporation for cooperation in the transmission, import, liquefaction, and export of East Mediterranean natural gas through Egypt.
The protocol aims to develop the infrastructure required for the transmission of natural gas from the East Mediterranean. EGAS and Chevron have agreed on forming a negotiation committee through which both parties can reach agreements on future natural gas projects in East Mediterranean. Under the MoU, the two companies will also assess opportunities for transmission of natural gas in the East Mediterranean to Egypt to maximize its value by liquefaction before re-exporting and selling thereof. The two companies will also conduct studies on low-carbon natural gas. (Arab Finance)
- Egypt’s chemical and fertiliser exports to Oman have increased by 7% to 11 million USD during the first four months (4M) of 2022, the Chemical and Fertilisers Export Council announced.
In 2021, Egypt recorded around 32 million USD in its chemical and fertiliser exports to Oman, including plastic products, paints and inks, detergents, and glass products. This announcement was made by Tarek Zaghloul, a board member of the Council, during the Egyptian-Omani Forum. During the forum, seven Egyptian companies, affiliated with the Council, held meetings with Omani companies and representatives of the Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OCCI). (Mubasher)
- Growth of the Egyptian economy is expected to slow down to 4.4% in fiscal year (FY) 2022/2023 due to inflation and slow recovery in both public investment and tourism, according to a recent article published by Fitch Solutions on the economic prospects of North Africa.
Growth is estimated to slow down to 3.6% in the first half (H1) of 2022, Fitch said. From a regional perspective, Fitch anticipates North Africa’s real GDP growth to decline to 4.6% in 2022 from 5.4% in 2021. In 2023, Fitch expects the region to achieve a sluggish growth of 3.8%. Furthermore, the credit rating agency forecasts more inflation for North Africa and double-digit inflation for Egypt. (Fitch Solutions)
- According to Fitch’s estimates, inflation in the region is expected to average 6.8% in 2023, lower than the 10.1% anticipated in 2022, but still worse than the mild inflation of 4.8% in 2021.
The surge in inflation in the region is the result of higher energy and food prices, which was aggravated by disruptions in supply chains and pressures on currencies, Fitch remarked. On June 12th, Egyptian Minister of Finance Mohamed Maait announced that elevated wheat and oil prices to a record-high, coupled with pressures on the Egyptian pound, is expected to cost Egypt over 10 billion USD in additional burdens. (Fitch Solutions)
- HSBC Egypt has launched Green Personal Finance (GPF) to support Egyptian retail customers’ efforts to realize the objective of net-zero carbon emissions.
The new product offers an interest rate discount on standard personal finance with flexible repayment plans. HSBC presents GPF exclusively for purchases of electric vehicles (EV) and solar panels for homes, along with installation expenses. It is worth mentioning that HSBC is anticipated to provide up to 1 trillion USD worth of sustainable financing and investment globally by 2030 to support the transition towards a net-zero economy. On June 7th, HSBC Egypt launched an 1 billion EGP technology entrepreneurs lending program for high growth tech entrepreneurs seeking international investments.
- The number of mobile internet users in Egypt increased by 12.8% year-on-year (YoY) during the first quarter (Q1) of 2022, reaching 64.6 million, according to the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology's monthly ICT indicators issue.
On the other hand, the USB modem subscriptions fell by 32.7% YoY to 2.19 million at the end of March, compared to 3.26 million in the corresponding period of 2021. The number of ADSL subscribers rose to 10.3 million in Q1 2022 from 9.26 million in Q1 2021. Meanwhile, mobile subscriptions declined to 94.1 million in the three-month ended March 31st from 99.82 in the same period a year earlier. (Arab Finance)
- Moving to our EGX and companies talks, the Saudi "Al Hokair" family agreed to buy 4.99% of the shares of the "Value" consumer finance company of the financial group Hermes Egyptian Holding Company, for 12.4 million USD, which brings the valuation of "Value" to 247.4 million USD.
Those responsible for the agreement from the Al-Hokair family are: Fawaz Abdul Aziz Al Hokair, Salman Abdul-Aziz Al-Hokair, and Abdul-Majid Abdul-Aziz Al-Hokair, the purchase will be made directly from Hermes, which owns all of the Valeo shares. The agreement comes after Valeo entered the Saudi market last week, through a partnership with FAS Labs, a subsidiary of Fawaz Abdulaziz Al Hokair Company, to provide consumer financing services. Fez Labs owns 65% of FAS Finance’s shares, while Valeo owns the remaining 35%. Consumer financing is every financing activity that aims to pay in installments the price of a good or service over a period of time. It includes installments for the purchase of cars, household and electrical appliances, medical and educational services, and travel and tourism services. (Bloomberg Asharq)
- Egyptian Transport and Commercial Services Company (ETRS) (EGYtrans) has signed a logistic services contract at a value of EGP 26 million with Kuehne + Nagel Ltd.
Under the contract, approximately 70 towers will be transmitted to the West Bakr – Vestas wind farm. The contract is expected to be carried out starting July 2022 for six months. EGYtrans is an Egypt-based company engaged in international sea, air, and land transportation services. The company offers a wide range of services such as import and export, general cargo handling, dry cargo handling, customs clearance, warehousing, packing, and specialized transportation. (Arab Finance)
- Upper Egypt Mills Company (UEFM) is expected to achieve a standalone net profit of 65.875 million EGP in fiscal year (FY) 2022/2023, compared to a profit of 56.575 million EGP under the FY 2021/2022 budget.
The company’s operating revenues have been estimated at 853.81 million EGP in FY 2022/2023, up from 663.49 million EGP as per the FY 2021/2022 budget. Upper Egypt Mills is an Egypt-based company that operates within the fields of manufacturing, processing, import, export, warehousing, and distribution of different types of grains and grain derivatives. (CAPMAS)
- The rights issue of Middle East Glass Manufacturing Co (MEGM) has been subscribed at a coverage ratio of 87.26%. The subscription into the capital increase has been closed for shareholders on June 16th and will not be reopened for another stage.
It is worth noting that the company’s board previously approved to raise the capital to EGP 64.42 million from EGP 50.32 million. The capital increase amounts to EGP 14.101 million to be financed in cash or from the credit balance of some shareholders. MEGM is an Egypt-based company primarily engaged in the manufacture, sale, and export of glass containers in the Middle East and North Africa region. The company’s product solutions include food jars, bottles, juice, carbonated bottles, and pharma, among others. (Arab Finance)
- Egypt and Lebanon will sign, Today, Tuesday, the long-awaited final agreement to supply gas, but it will not enter into actual implementation until the conditions of the World Bank and the United States of America are met.
The agreement comes amid international efforts to address the electricity shortage in Lebanon using Egyptian Gas that is supplied via Jordan and Syria. Egypt expects to export 60 to 65 million cubic feet of gas per day to Lebanon once the agreement enters into force, providing the country with 4 hours of electricity per day. Lebanon suffers from power outages that often last up to 20 hours a day, and has been facing economic and political problems for years that have caused financial crises that have prevented its ability to import major commodities, including the fuel necessary to operate power stations. (Bloomberg Asharq)
Stay up to date
More Newsletter to Check
SUBSCRIBE TO NEWSLETTER
Subscribe to download our daily economics and business roundup
×
![]()