Abu Dhabi acquires stakes worth 1.8 billion USD in five Egyptian companies
For our top talks today, first, Abu Dhabi acquires stakes worth 1.8 billion USD in five Egyptian companies. The deals include the acquisition of stakes in companies Abu Qir Fertilizers by about 21.5%, and 20% of Egypt’s shares for the production of fertilizers of MOPCO and 32% of the Alexandria Container Handling shares and about 17% of the shares of the Commercial International Bank and 12.6% of the shares of Fawry. The acquisitions of Egyptian shares took place at cheap prices, in light of the low market values of shares after the interest rate hike and the movement of the currency value last month. Sources in the Egyptian stock market that state-owned banks were the sellers in the deals, namely: Banque Misr and the National Bank of Egypt. (Bloomberg Asharq)
- The investment banking division of EFG Hermes Holding (HRHO) has completed advisory on Dubai Electricity and Water Authority’s (DEWA) 6.1 billion USD initial public offering (IPO) on the Dubai Financial Market (DFM).
The transaction follows EFG Herme’s successful advisory on ACWA Power’s IPO on Tadawul, ADNOC Drilling’s offering on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX), and Fertiglobe’s listing on the ADX. Stated-owned DEWA listed 9 billion shares on the DFM, accounting for 18% of its share capital, at a price of 2.48 AED per share, implying a market capitalization of 124 billion AED. DEWA’s IPO marks the largest ever in the Middle East since 2019 and the “first-of-its-kind” of a public company in Dubai. Trading on DEWA’s shares has begun today under the ticker of (DEWA UH EQUITY). This listing comes in line with Dubai’s plan to offer 10 state-owned companies on the DFM in 2022, with the aim to diversify the capital market by bringing the index’s market capitalization to 3 trillion AED (816.86 billion USD). (Bloomberg Asharq)
- Saudi Arabian fintech and e-payment firm Geidea has entered into a partnership for cooperation with Cairo-based B2B e-commerce marketplace Fatura to supply retailers and wholesalers in Egypt with the most up-to-date e-payment services.
The partnership between Geidea and Fatura will enable merchandizers to manage their stock of goods through Fatura app. It will also allow for the provision of various services by Geidea, including bill payments. Commenting on the partnership, General Manager of Geidea Egypt Ahmed Nader said that it will give Fatura’s merchandizers access to the pioneering capabilities of Geidea platform through points of sale (POS) and mobile apps. (Arab Finance)
- Kemitt launches a B2B marketplace for furniture, home accessories, and materials ranging from living room sets to bedroom sets, and from dining room tables to office desks, and even raw materials for furniture manufacturing.
The new platform will give access to thousands of pieces of furniture from hundreds of suppliers. Kemitt’s B2C platform allows customers to access over 30,000 SKU, with on-demand manufacturing and 7-12 days delivery to their doorstep. Kemitt saves customers from having to explore showrooms and furniture stores by fully digitizing the shopping experience and using the best tech in the market while offering all payment and financing plans. (WAYA)
- Pylon, infrastructure management platform transforming electricity and water companies in emerging markets, raised 19 million USD in a Seed funding round.
The seed round began with initial funding from Y Combinator and was led by Endure Capital, with participation from Cathexis Ventures, Khawarizmi Ventures, Loftyinc Ventures, and various high profile angel investors. The startup will use the fund to accelerate their growth via expansion into other emerging markets such as: South-East Asia, Africa, Latin America and advance engineering and product development. The startup is already working with multiple companies across two continents who have deployed more than one million end points of Pylon’s smart grid technology, across 15 distribution companies. Pylon’s goal is to increase its smart metering points to three million by 2023, which would represent 4x year-on-year growth. (WAYA)
- Paymob, the market-leading digital payments provider in the MENA region, has announced its official entry into the Pakistani market and the start of its business there.
Paymob's expansion into Pakistan follows its rapid growth in its home market of Egypt, as well as Jordan and Kenya, where it serves tens of thousands of merchants. Paymob's clients include leading companies such as LG, Samsonite, Talabat, Uber and Virgin Records, as well as a number of small and medium businesses. The opportunity for Paymob in Pakistan is unique, as the Asian country has a population of more than 220 million with a range of retail outlets and SMEs across the cities of the country, it also has more than 4 million small and medium-sized businesses using over 80,000 points Selling, including about 3,000 e-commerce portals. (WAYA)
- Fawry for Banking Technology and Electronic Payment (FWRY) has seen a block-trading transaction valued at 68.598 million USD on the Egyptian Exchange (EGX).
The transaction was executed on nearly 215.12 million shares of the company’s total shares. Fawry is an Egypt-based company that provides an electronic payment network. The company allows users to pay bills in multiple channels, such as online, using automated teller machines, mobile wallets, and retail points. (EGX)
- Alexandria Container and Cargo Handling Company (ALCN) has seen a block-trading transaction worth 186.067 million USD on the Egyptian Exchange (EGX).
The transaction was implemented on 476.72 million shares of the company’s total shares. Alexandria Container is an Egypt-based company that specializes in containers and cargo handling in Egyptian ports. (EGX)
- The ordinary general meeting (OGM) of Madinet Nasr Housing and Development (MNHD) has approved the proposal of distributing 228 million bonus shares at a nominal value of 1 EGP per share to shareholders for the full year 2021.
Accordingly, the company’s issued and paid-up capital will be raised to 2.1 billion EGP following the issuance of the 228 million EGP bonus shares. It is worth noting that the company previously reported a 72% decline in consolidated profits attributable to the parent company in 2021, recording 282.237 million EGP, from 1.001 billion EGP in 2020. (EGX)
- Moving to our economic talks, the Egyptian Businessmen Association (EBA) is set to submit a proposal to the government to open RUB banking accounts for exporters to Russia, according to the citing EBA’s Chairman Ali Issa.
The proposal will be presented to all government authorities including the Cabinet and the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE). The proposal aims to curb Egyptian companies’ demand on USD, he noted. The chaiman expected that the proposal will boost trade between Egypt and Russia on the short-run. According to data by the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS), Egypt’s exports to Russia grew 17.5% to stand at 449.5 million USD in the first 11 months of 2021, from 382.5 million USD during the same period in 2020. (Al Borsa News)
- The Egyptian General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC) has launched a limited tender on Monday to import wheat from Europe only.
The tender’s deadline will be today. Bids shall be submitted on free on board (FOB) and cost and freight (C&F) bases. In FOB, shippers deliver goods to the subject carrier, and in C&F, they deliver goods until a mentioned delivery point. FOB offers should be from May 20th and May 31st, while C&F offers should be from June 1st to June 15th. According to Reuters, the recent tender is GASC’s first limited tender in years. Egyptian wheat reserves have fallen to 2.6 months. However, the government stated that they would rise again following the harvest season of local wheat. The government aims to supply around six million tons of local wheat at a value of 36 billion EGP in 2022. (Reuters)
- The Egyptian government has allocated more than 1.1 billion EGP to meet growing demand on digital skills, according to an infographic by the Information and Decision Support Center (IDSC).
The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) has trained more than 180,000 young people under Egypt Future Work is Digital (FWD) initiative. MCIT added more skills and training programs to the FWD initiative, including web design and development, programming, and digital marketing. Around 1.64 million Egyptians are registered in courses provided by US-based massive open online course provider Coursera, including 83,220 undergrad students. (EGX)
- Moreover, the Egyptian government will launch the trial version of the e-receipt system on April 15th for consumer goods and services companies, according to the Minister of Finance Mohamed Maait said.
The full application of the system will be on May 1st, Maait added. The new system comes in the context of governmental endeavors to include unrecorded economic activities and have a more accurate estimation of taxes which will add to the gross domestic product (GDP) and help realize economic and development objectives, Maait commented. (Arab Finance)
- In addition, the e-receipt system is based on a centralized electronic system, enabling the Egyptian Tax Authority (ETA) to monitor all transactions of exchanging goods and services among sellers and consumers in real time, Maait added.
The minister stressed that the new system will allow for the verification of transactions through electronic integration with points of sale (POS). The e-receipt system is providing multiple advantages to suppliers, including facilitation of tax inspection in the least time possible, Maait said. (Arab Finance)
- The Egyptian Senate has approved on April 11th the draft of the Unified Insurance Act (UIA) which tackles legislative and organizational inadequacy with regard to controlling the insurance sector.
The act sets detailed rules organizing insurance professions and services, and reforming legislative and control systems for special insurance funds. The Senate also approved raising minimum issued capital for insurers to 250 million EGP from 150 million EGP. Moreover, a group of articles organizing incorporation licenses of insurance companies were approved. The new articles stipulate that licensing applications shall be considered within 30 days at most as of the date of submittal, and that any contract signed prior to licensing shall be null. (Al-Ahram Gate)
Stay up to date
More Newsletter to Check
SUBSCRIBE TO NEWSLETTER
Subscribe to download our daily economics and business roundup
×
![]()