Biden fulfills his most important promises... Signing the largest investment plan for infrastructure with a 1 trillion USD | Zilla Capital

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17 Nov 2021

Biden fulfills his most important promises… Signing the largest investment plan for infrastructure with a 1 trillion USD

For our top abroad must-read talks today, we must highlight that Biden fulfills his most important promises… Signing the largest investment plan for infrastructure with a 1 trillion USD. The event was attended by Democratic and Republican lawmakers who pushed the legislation forward amid a divided US Congress. Earlier this month, a majority of US House of Representatives members voted in favor of the bill, which the Senate had previously approved in August. It is noteworthy that the huge investment plan amounting to 1.2 trillion dollars, was put forward by President Joe Biden to modernize the aging infrastructure in the country. The measure is designed to create jobs across the country by dispersing billions of dollars to state and local governments to fix crumbling bridges and roads and by expanding broadband internet access to millions of Americans. (Reuters)

Additionally, Emerging-market currencies are no longer in a sweet spot. A short-lived reprieved for emerging-market carry trades funded in dollars looks to be over, with an upsurge in US inflation making the outlook increasingly deceitful.
A Bloomberg index of these bets has dropped more than 4% in the past two months, the biggest slide since March 2020 for a strategy of borrowing in the greenback and investing in developing-nation currencies. The quickest US inflation in three decades is putting pressure on the Federal Reserve to tighten, raising the prospect of higher costs of dollar borrowers and less extra yield or carry. It is going fast for trades who were just taking comfort tow months ago in the Fed’s dovish messaging around gradual pace of tightening, and were using the opportunity to pile into carry trades. Many of these bets are now coming undone due to the growing concern about inflation, and about whether central banks will have to play catch up with aggressive hikes. (Bloomberg)
Equally important, the increase in the consumption of mazut power plants is a new light point in the future of AMOC.
The return of electricity production plants to work using diesel, along with natural gas, would contribute to maximizing future business results, in addition to improving oil selling prices. An increase in the consumption rates of the electricity production companies affiliated with the Ministry of “mazut” by more than 350% in its stations, reaching 7000 tons, compared to 1500 tons. The consumption of natural gas in power plants has declined, from approximately 49 to 98%, at a time when the percentage of mazut used has increased. We believe that the return of the electricity sector in Egypt to the use of diesel due to the high cost of gas will bring AMOC to the fore again. Noting that the company succeeded in consolidating its profits and sales during the last fiscal year, after a state of fluctuation during the last three years. (Al-Mal)
Moving to our EGX & companies talks, first, Cairo for Investment and Real Estate Development (CIRA) will borrow an 375 million EGP from Ahli United Bank to finance fresh investments.
No further details or information were provided in the disclosure. It is worth noting that the company posted a consolidated net profit attributable to the parent company of 330.81 million EGP for the year ended August 31st, 2021, up from 254.76 million EGP in the previous year. (EGX)
Second, career 180 secured 200,000 USD investments from Ed Ventures with the aim of developing a new employment platform and merging it with the Freelance Yard to create an integrated platform that provides employment and qualifying services to youth covering all job types.
The site would be merged with freelance job site Freelance Yard to create a platform that provides employment services to young people across a range of industries. The new platform is set to launch in two months, and will involve providing job seekers with qualifications through live courses that provide them with badges upon completion, and supporting them through training throughout their application process. This marks the second investment by Nahdet Misr Publishing’s VC arm in the startup, bringing its total investments to date to 300,000 USD. (Al-Mal)
In addition, “Misr Helwan Automotive” company, the agent of “Bestoon” affiliated to the Chinese FAW, is on its way to acquire the agency of the brand “Dongfeng” locally.
This comes at a time when the Ministry of Public Business Sector announced the failure of negotiations with the Chinese "Dongfeng" for reasons related to reducing the price of the imported component sufficiently to enable Al-Nasr Company to offer its cars at competitive prices. Misr Helwan Automotive is currently working on expanding in the field of cars by acquiring new agencies, noting that the company has started launching five models of the Chinese FAW Piston brand. (Al-Mal)
Moreover, e-finance for Digital and Financial Investments (EFIH) is focused on the build-out of new lines of business and expanding its regional footprint.
Earlier in 2021, the company revealed that it will use the funds raised through its initial public offering (IPO) to invest in growth. Among the priorities, a taxation and B2C receipts platform it is launching with the Finance Ministry and a digital health services platform with the Universal Health Insurance Authority. The newly listed company is also is also pursuing a number of non-bank financial services licenses, which will allow the group to provide the full payment value chain for 22 million current customers, as well as newcomers to its platforms. e-Aswaaq is one of the company’s new e-commerce platforms that was launched during the first quarter of 2021. It aims to become the first and largest full-fledged, homegrown B2B e-commerce platform in Egypt. (Arab Finance)
Furthermore, TEAMS, a technology company to develop medical education services, has signed a partnership agreement with the University of Texas for Medical Sciences, to establish a branch of the university in Egypt at an investment cost of nearly 300 million USD.
TEAMS started the next steps of the agreement by studying the acquisition of a plot of land with an area of 35 acres, with the aim of establishing a university branch, and the comparison is currently taking place between the Sheikh Zayed and Madinat Al Salam areas to choose one of them. (Al-Mal)
Also, Ibn Sinas invested recently 120 million EGP in the AIM company, with the aim of directing it to the subsidiaries, which include "Ramp Logistics Services" and "Digi for Technology Services", as well as a company to invest in field of health care.
Regarding "Ramp Logistics Services", it plans to invest 440 million EGP in the coming years. Noting that "Ramp" agreed with the Kuwaiti "Orchid" company to establish a new warehouse in the 10th of Ramadan area on an area of 31,000 square meters, pointing out that all the current contracts of the parent entity "Ibn Sina" will be transferred to the new company. (Al-Mal)
In the same fashion, Misr Capital, the investment banking services arm of Banque Misr, completed the deal for the fifth issuance of Al-Tameer Securitization Company with a value of 749.8 million EGP,
with the guarantee of the portfolios transferred from Egy Lease for financial leasing, after obtaining the approval of the Financial Supervisory Authority. The issuance comes in four tranches with maturities ranging from nine months for the first tranche, thirteen months for the second tranche, thirty-seven months for the third tranche, and sixty months for the fourth tranche. The segments also obtained credit ratings of P1 for the first tranche, which is the highest credit rating from MERIS - Middle East Credit Rating and Investors Service (MERIS), AA+ for the second, AA for the third and A for the fourth. (Al-Mal)
And finally, regarding Tadawul stock exchange (TASI) and Dubai Stock Market (DFM, The Public Investment Fund (PIF) of Saudi Arabia nearly tripled its holdings of US-listed shares to 43.45 billion USD
in the third quarter of this year compared to 16 billion USD in the second quarter. Other holdings he bought included shares in "Just Eat Takeaway.com" and "Ballard Power Systems". The PIF manages 430 billion USD in assets and is at the heart of Saudi Arabia's plans to reshape the economy by creating new sectors and diversifying revenues away from oil. The PIF also owns a 62.72% stake in Lucid Electric Vehicles Company, whose market value is currently 71 billion USD, which represents a significant boost to the value since the end of September. (TASI)
On the other hand, Emirates Airlines President Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum said that the company owned by the government of Dubai or any of its units could be listed on the emirate’s stock exchange,
noting that the decision would be in the hands of the Higher Committee for the Development of Capital Markets headed by Sheikh Maktoum bin Mohammed Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai. The Dubai government announced earlier this month that it intends to list 10 government-linked companies as it seeks to revitalize the exchange, and Emirates Airlines did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The listing plans aim to make the Dubai market more competitive compared to larger exchanges such as the Saudi stock market and the Abu Dhabi market, which are attracting large listings and liquidity. (Al-Mal)