Egypt’s the National Authority for Military Production and the Emirates Council for Defense Companies signed an MoU to boost cooperation in the field of defense industries

Newsletter

05 Dec 2021

For our top talks today, Egypt’s the National Authority for Military Production and the Emirates Council for Defense Companies signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to boost cooperation in the field of defense industries. The MoU aims at enhancing cooperation in the fields of defense industries through the exchange of experiences, capacity-building and training in this field and to facilitate the establishment of joint work partnerships and the transfer and localization of industries and technologies. (Arab Finance)

In a similar context, Arab Organization for Industrialization (AOI) signed a cooperation protocol with Bulgarian defense industries companies BIEM and VMZ to form a joint technical team to visit AOI units to stand on the organization's capabilities and decide vistas of industrial cooperation.
Abdel Moneim Terras, Chairman of the AOI, said that the step falls in line with Egypt’s efforts to boosting investment opportunities and localizing industry in collaboration with international expertise. (Arab Finance)
Equally important, the Spanish government could provide 400 million EUR in credit facilities for joint projects in Egypt, under an agreement signed by Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly and his Spanish counterpart, Pedro Sanchez, on December 1st.
The framework will be earmarked for projects in transport, renewable energy, water and sewage treatment, and agriculture. The facilities will also help finance the import of supplies from Spain that would be used for public and private sector projects in the specified sectors. Egypt and Spain also signed an agreement to increase bilateral economic cooperation and trade, as well as two memoranda of understanding (MoUs) to increase sports and cultural engagements between the countries. Recently, Egypt signed multiple agreements and MoUs with Spanish companies on railway and metro infrastructure development that could reap the benefits of the facilities. (Egyptian Cabinet Statement)
Moreover, the non-governmental deposits in local currency with the Egyptian banking sector, other than the state-owned banks, registered 4.308 trillion EGP in October 2021, compared to 4.239 trillion EGP in September 2021.
Also, the total deposits of the banking sector in foreign currencies recorded the equivalent of about 41.163 billion USD in October 2021, compared to the equivalent of about 40.833 billion USD in the month before. According to the central bank, the money supply recorded 1.345 tr trillion EGP in October 2021, compared to 1.330 trillion EGP in September 2021. (CBE)
And for our EGX & companies talks, Egytrans transported 4 out of the first 12 LRT electric train cabins to Egypt International Exhibition Center (International Exhibition Center (Eiec)) to be displayed at the TransMEA 2021 exhibition.
The Light Rail Train is one of the biggest railway projects that will reshape the logistics and transportation scene in Egypt. Earlier this month, Egytrans received the first 12 of 132 carriages and 2 of 8 transformers needed for these 120km/hour high-tech trains at Alexandria Port and successfully transported them to Badr City, where the 4 displayed carriages were transported once more at the end of the exhibition in order to begin operating on the new Al-Salam/New Administrative Capital/Tenth of Ramadan City route. (Egytrans)
Goldenrod Capital International Limited has purchased 328,529 shares in Nile City Investments (NCIN) at a total value of 113.105 million EGP or 344.28 EGP per share. Accordingly, the company’s stake in Nile City Investments rose to 10.51% from 5.98%.
On the other hand, Colonial Capital Ventures has exited from Nile City Investment after selling its 4.53% stake, representing 328,529 shares. Nile City Investment is an Egypt-based public shareholding company engaged in the real estate development and investment sector. It invests in real estate developments, mainly residential, commercial, and administrative unit buildings. (EGX)
Three Egyptian state-owned banks are planning to launch a new fund to invest in fintech startups before the end of 2021, with expectations to reach a first close of 85 million USD.
The banks are the National Bank of Egypt (NBE), Banque du Caire (BdC), and Banque Misr. The three banks will finance the first close, with plans to raise a separate 85 million USD from foreign investors in its second close. The fund plans to invest in SMEs and companies operating in healthcare, education, fintech, agribusiness, renewables, fast-moving consumer goods as well as information and communications technology. (Al-Mal)
Saudi-based fintech startup, Lamaa, plans to expand its footprints into Egypt, the UAE, and Qatar after securing a 5.5 million USD seed round. The round was led by Raed Ventures and Saudi Aramco’s entrepreneurship arm, Wa’ed.
The investment comes in line with Saudi Arabia’s commitment to SMEs' financial inclusion as part of the kingdom’s vision 2030 push. It is worthy to mention that Lamaa’s market potential in MENA is huge; the region’s GDP is 3 trillion USD, 30% of which at least is attributed to SMEs. In parallel, 22% of Saudi’s current GDP (700 billion USD) comes from SMEs. (Mubasher)
Raseedi, the mobile with over 10 million monthly visits and calls made through its dialer app, announced raising 850,000 USD in a pre-series A round from Samurai incubate, a European investor and with participation from all existing investors including 500 Global, EFG-EV and Falak Startups.
In 2019, the fintech startup raised 400,000 USD in seed funding. Established in 2018, Raseedi helps dual SIM card users optimize their spending by automatically detecting which card will make the cheaper call. The app expanded to providing advance credit and digital bill payment services, offering Egypt’s unbanked with digital access to credit. (Wamda)
Cairo-based inspection management software Bexel closed a USD six-figure investment round.
The round was led by JH Investments, as well as follow-on funding from Flat6Labs, UI Investments and Saudi Angel Investors. With the latest funds, the Egyptian startup is now expanding to Saudi Arabia and other GCC countries, co-founder and CEO Ayman Abouregeila said. (Arab Finance)
Al Mansour Automotive and General Motors could partner up to produce electric vehicles in Egypt under a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed by the two companies on Wednesday, December 1st.
Under the deal, the two companies will study production requirements, volumes and incentives they might need from the government, Chairman of Mansour Automotive, Mohamed Mansour said, without specifying what shape those incentives might take. Both companies will produce a study to put to the government within the next 2-3 months. (Reuters)
Egypt Aluminum (Egyptalum) (EGAL) has cut its supplying prices to factories and retailers by almost EGP 4,000 to EGP 5,000 per ton for December 2021. The price of local aluminum excluding taxes now ranges between 52,300 EGP and 64,000 EGP.
The decrease in supplying prices was driven by lower global prices, which fell by an average of $330 per ton, recording 2,650 USD, instead of 2,980 USD in November. It is worth noting that Egypt Aluminum reported it achieved a net profit after tax of 304.718 million EGP for the first quarter (Q1) of fiscal year (FY) 2021/2022, against a net loss of 150.97 million EGP in Q1 FY 2020/2021. (Al-Mal)
Egypt’s state-backed importer, GASC, has taken advantage of a dip in wheat prices to purchase the country’s largest-ever tender.GASC 600,000 tons of wheat, securing heavy discounts from traders as wheat futures fell.
International prices have dipped this week on a strengthening USD and fears that the Omicron covid-19 variant could slow the global economy. Chicago wheat futures have fallen more than 8% since last Wednesday as investors pulled out of risk assets in anticipation of a covid-driven fall in demand. Egypt, the world’s biggest importer of wheat, is facing a steeper import bill as its international tenders deliver the steepest prices in at least five years. Accordingly, the government is preparing to start reducing bread subsidies to soften the impact on the state budget, and is looking to prevent further damage with hedging contracts. (Agricensus)
Palm Hills Development Company (PHDC) announced it has successfully closed its 7th securitized bonds issuance, in collaboration with Sarwa Capital, a subsidiary of Contact Financial Holding (CNFN).
The issuance was backed by a receivables portfolio of about 1.05 billion EGP related to 331 delivered residential units. The securitization issuance was carried out in four tranches, with ratings of AA+, AA, A+, and A-. Sarwa Promotion and Underwriting has acted as the lead manager and arranger of the issuance. Meanwhile, the National Bank of Egypt (NBE), Banque Misr, Misr Capital, the Commercial International Bank (CIB) (COMI), and Ahli united Bank have acted as the underwriters and co-arrangers of the transaction. Moreover, Ali El-Din Weshai (ALC) has acted as the legal advisor for the issuance. (Arab Finance)
The Mastercard Foundation and Africa CDC jointly announced that 1.8 million of the Johnson & Johnson (J&J) vaccines purchased under the Saving Lives and Livelihoods initiative have landed in Egypt and are set for distribution all over the country.
The shipment is part of a first tranche of vaccines to be delivered to Egypt under the initiative. The Through Saving Lives and Livelihoods, the Mastercard Foundation is purchasing vaccines for more than 65 million people across Africa, including Egypt. The vaccines will be distributed within countries by UNICEF. Launched in June 2021, Saving Lives and Livelihoods is now a 1.5 billion USD partnership that aims to enable vaccination for millions of people, develop a workforce for vaccine manufacturing, and strengthen the Africa CDC’s capacity to oversee a historic vaccination campaign and effectively respond to future outbreaks. (Arab Finance)