Minister of International Cooperation, met with a delegation of 16 from the Swiss Network of CEOs and Entrepreneurs

Newsletter

25 Nov 2021

For Egypt top investments talks, first, Rania Al-Mashat, Minister of International Cooperation, met with a delegation of 16 from the Swiss Network of CEOs and Entrepreneurs, within the framework of the visit of a number of company leaders and investors to Cairo from November 21 to 24, to meet with a number of officials and discuss strengthening joint relations and getting to know each other. The new bilateral cooperation program over the next four years aims to support the development priorities of the government, as well as the private sector and civil society, on a number of axes, including women’s empowerment, gender equality, green growth, comprehensive and sustainable urban development, and empowering youth to develop their skills by providing opportunities decent work and improved business environment. (Mubasher)

Equally important, Leslie Reid, the director of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in Egypt, said that the amount of funding she provided for the Integrated Management of Cultural Tourism Project in the Historic Cairo and Luxor regions amounts to about 13 million USD until 2024.
This came on the sidelines of a symposium organized by the US Agency for International Development in Al-Azhar Park in Cairo last Monday, in cooperation with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, to sign a memorandum of understanding for the Integrated Management of Cultural Tourism Project. (Al-Mal)
In addition, Engineer Tarek El Molla, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, and Bulgarian Ambassador to Cairo Diane Angelov Katrashev discussed a number of issues related to cooperation in the field of energy, especially Egyptian natural gas.
The Bulgarian ambassador expressed his country's desire for Egyptian gas to be one of the important tributaries in meeting part of his country's energy needs. He also expressed his country's interest in studying joining the East Mediterranean Gas Forum and the fair framework it represents that achieves the interests of all participating parties. (Al-Mal)
And for our green economy talks, Orascom Construction PLC (ORAS) has joined the consortium that will develop the first green hydrogen production facility in Egypt.
The green hydrogen consortium already comprises Fertiglobe, a joint venture between Abu Dhabi National Oil Company and OCI, Oslo-based Scatec, and the Sovereign Fund of Egypt. This project will mark the forefront of future green hydrogen production. The project aims to use green hydrogen to produce 900,000 tons of green ammonia annually through the Fertiglobe plant in Ain Sukhna, Egypt. The hydrogen plant mainly consists of an electrolyzer with a capacity of 100 megawatts, which is the first electrolyzer in Egypt. (Al-Mal)
The Commercial International Bank Egypt (CIB) (COMI) has launched the green bonds program to support financing projects that provide sustainable solutions for the climate change crisis, natural resources shortage, and water and air pollution.
The program will contribute to bolstering the green economy of Egypt as well as the use of renewable energy in the country. This comes in line with the sustainable development goals (SDGs) and reinforces the CIB’s sustainable financing strategy. The bank’s green projects portfolio includes financing various projects in the industrial sector through proceeds from bonds issued by the CIB that are worth 70 million USD.
In the same context, Egypt is expected to finalize a $3 billion loan to be used in part to finance sustainable projects, as the nation attempts to recover from a drop in tourism during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The facility is arranged by the First Abu Dhabi Bank and Emirates NBD. The facility will be partly be used to fund green ventures and partly channeled into Sharia-compliant projects. The loan would be split 50/50, with 1 billion USD being allocated to ESG projects and 1 billion USD going to Sharia-compliant investments. It’s unclear how the 3 billion USD loan would be divided. The new facility would be repayable over three-years. (Reuters)
And for today’s biggest story abroad, Social Democrat Olaf Scholz moved closer to becoming German chancellor after agreeing on a coalition deal that aims to modernize Europe's largest economy, accelerate its green transition and bring the curtain down on the Angela Merkel era.
Olaf Scholz, the SPD’s candidate, is set to be Germany’s next chancellor while Christian Lindner, the head of the FDP, is set to be the next finance minister. German businesses are anxious to see what this transformation means for them in reality, in terms of energy prices and business costs. (CNBC)
Moving to our EGX & companies talks, regional Investment Holding has raised its stake in Naeem Holding (NAHO) to 18.506% from 17.95%.
This came after Regional Investment bought 1.93 million shares in Naeem Holding. The transaction has been implemented at a total value of 477,406 EGP, equivalent to an average price of 0.247 EGP per share. In addition, Concrete Plus Engineering and Construction has raised stake in Tenth of Ramadan for Pharmaceuticals Industries and Diagnostic Reagents (Rameda) (RMDA) to 2.14% from 2.81%. (EGX)
Additionally, Lucky Egypt, the leading offers platform in Egypt and the Middle East, announced the signing of a tripartite cooperation protocol with the First Abu Dhabi Bank and Visa, the world leader in digital payments, to launch the "FAB - Lucky Visa Platinum Credit Card".
The tripartite partnership is the first of its kind in the Egyptian market in digital payments. The protocol aims to facilitate obtaining a credit card for customers through the application with simple procedures. If approved, the credit card will be delivered to the customer. (Arab Finance)
Telecom Egypt (ETEL) announced its collaboration with Ciena Company to use the latter’s latest optical technique of WaveLogic 5 Extreme, along with the GeoMesh Extreme solutions.
Under this cooperation, Ciena will provide more capacities for the international network of Telecom Egypt inside Egypt and for the Middle East North Africa (MENA) Submarine Cable System in the Mediterranean. Moreover, Telecom Egypt will receive new-generation services from the control units in the managing, controlling, and planning (MCP) field affiliated with Ciena through merging and digitalizing the network operation across different marine sectors. (Hapi Journal)
Mena for Touristic and Real Estate Investment (MENA) announced that the contract signed with Inertia Egypt, regarding the establishment and construction of two service buildings at Mena’s Garden City project in the 6th of October city, has been dissolved.
Accordingly, Mena will pay a sum of 25.123 million EGP for the complete construction works as per the decision of the arbitration authority. Moreover, the company will pay an annual legal interest of 5% on the aforementioned sum as of the arbitration ruling’s date on November 11th, 2021, until the payment date. As a result, the project’s land plot will be returned to Mena.
Bosta, an Egyptian startup for shipping solutions, teamed up with Family Corporation, a leading company in the transportation field, to expand its shipping fleet in Egypt.
Under the partnership, Family Corporation will provide Bosta with tricycles and vans to be used in delivery operations nationwide. Bosta will launch a fast delivery service with 1,000 tricycles initially in the first phase. The project ensures the efficiency of shipping, shortens the time of delivery, and provides new job opportunities. Bosta’s expansion strategy aims to deliver more than 5 million parcels by the end of 2021 and 15 million parcels by 2022. (Arab Finance)
And our last news today, Ebtikar for electronic payments announced postponing its planned initial public offering (IPO) on the Egyptian Exchange (EGX) to the first quarter (Q1) of 2022.
On the other hand, Abu Qir Fertilizer Company set the deadline for its IPO before the end of 2021, with the size of offering expected to exceed 10% of the company’s shares. In 2021, the EGX witnessed several offerings, including the Taaleem Management Services, the Integrated Diagnostics Holdings, and Emerald Development Group with a coverage rate of 26.3 times.