Egyptian Ministry of Transport is getting ready to pay 150 million EUR for a consortium comprising Arab Contractors, Orascom Construction PLC, and Alstom

Newsletter

08 Mar 2022

For our top talks today, Egyptian Ministry of Transport is getting ready to pay 150 million EUR for a consortium comprising Arab Contractors, Orascom Construction PLC (ORAS), and Alstom for the construction works carried out over the past period at the New Administrative Capital-6th of October monorail project. This amount marks the second tranche for the construction works at the project after paying up to 280 million USD to the consortium at the end of October 2021. The construction works of the monorail are estimated at a total value of 1.2 billion EUR, equally distributed between Arab Contractors and Orascom, along with around 2.6 billion EUR representing the cost of electronic systems and monorail cars being installed by Alstom. (Al-Mal)

Egypt’s exports to the UAE amounted to 1.196 billion USD in 2021, Egyptian trade minister Nevine Gamea said in a meeting with the UAE Ambassador to Cairo Mariam Khalifa Al Kaabi.
The main Egyptian exports to the Emirati market included construction materials, electronics, food, crops, medical industries, ready-made clothing, and furniture, Gamea highlighted. The minister stressed the importance of strengthening mutual ties between Egypt and the UAE to meet the needs of both markets amid the current regional and global challenges. Moreover, Gamea highlighted the unique investment opportunities in the Egyptian market, which could attract Emirati businessmen. (Arab Finance)
The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) is set to launch the instant payments platform for customers on March 22nd, Assistant Sub-Governor, according to the Payment Systems and Business Technology Sector at the CBE Ehab Nasr.
All banks are expected to be technically linked with the platform by the end of April, Nasr highlighted. The new platform will enable customers to complete their electronic transactions instantly anytime, he said. Moreover, Nasr pointed out that the number of e-wallets grew to 26 million due to higher volume of e-transactions, with government proceeds from banking cannels standing at 667 billion EGP. (Al-Mal)
Iron sales in Egypt have increased by up to 10% year-on-year (YoY) in the first half (H1) of fiscal year (FY) 2021/2022.
Total sales of iron in the Egyptian market amounted to around 3.945 million tons in the period from July until December 2021, versus sales of 3.570 million tons in the same period of FY 2020/2021. The increase in iron sales in the first six months of FY 2021/2022 was driven by the recovery in the real estate market, aligned with easing Covid-19 pandemic. Moreover, iron prices rose by 3,000 EGP in H1 FY 2021/2022, as compared to the corresponding period of FY 2020/2021 due to the increase in metal prices and higher demand. (Al Mal)
The increase in global wheat prices will raise the cost of Egypt’s imports of wheat by 12 billion EGP to 15 billion EGP in the state’s budget for fiscal year (FY) 2021/2022, according to the Minister of Finance Mohamed Maait.
In cooperation with the Egyptian Ministry of Petroleum, the finance ministry is mulling over the price of oil per barrel under the FY 2022/2023 budget. Prices of global food commodities hit records high in February amid the Russia-Ukraine war, which impacted global trade and indicates a further increase in costs. The Egyptian government’s imports of wheat are projected to drop to 5.3 million tons in 2022, driven by higher local production. It is worth noting that the government’s wheat imports stood at 5.5 million tons in 2021. In 2020, Egypt, the world’s largest importer of wheat, had imported around 12.9 million tons of wheat at a total value of 3.2 billion USD. (Asharq Business)
More than 1 billion electronic transactions have been carried out through the Egyptian banking system in 2021 at a total value of 2.8 trillion EGP, according to the Sub-Governor for Payment Systems and Business Technology at the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) Ayman Hussein.
Investments into Egypt’s fintech sector grew to 195 million USD in 2021, as compared to around 1 million USD in 2014. Moreover, the number of fintech companies rose to 122 last year from two companies in 2014. Total number of banking cards stood at 54 million, including 22 million Meeza cards, he pointed out, noting that the current number of points of sale (PoS) in the market is 740,000. (Hapi Journal)
Turning to our investments talks, ODIN Investments (ODIN) and South African cookware manufacturer Tissolli have invested 100 million EGP to rehabilitate Tissolli’s factory in Egypt.
Operation trials have been conducted in the factory after the upgrade of production lines. They noted that Tissolli Egypt is planning to export a portion of the factory’s output. In December 2020, ODIN Investments acquired 51% of Tissoli that specialized in manufacturing household utensils at a value of 20 million EGP. (Al-Mal)
National Bank of Egypt (NBE), Banque Misr, and Banque du Caire (BDC) (BQDC) are set to launch Egypt’s first fintech fund with a capital of over 1.3 billion EGP, according to Rasha Negm, Assistant Sub-Governor Information Technology at the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE).
Egypt has grown rapidly in the field of fintech over the past few years, as investments in the field soared over 300%. The top official highlighted that the CBE realized the importance of fintech which caused the launch of its digitalization strategy in March 2019. The CBE has taken big steps in the implementation of this strategy which is aimed primarily at boosting financial inclusions. (Happi Journal)
And for our EGX and companies talks, Egypt-based trucking technology platform Naqla has raised 10.5 million USD in a Pre-Series A round.
The funding round was led by El Sewedy Capital Holding (SCH), Hassan Allam Holding (HAH), and the Sallam Family. The logistics startup will use proceeds from this investment to upgrade technology and support digitization, which will help it move toward further growth and development in 2022. This comes in line with Naqla’s core mission embodied in advancing and expanding Egypt’s supply chain through automating orders between shippers and drivers via its two main apps. (Arab Finance)
Oriental Weavers Carpets (ORWE) is seeking to start operations at its new factory in 10th of Ramadan City in June, according to the group’s Chairman Yasmine Khamis.
The factory represents a part of the company’s expansion strategy which includes investing 15 million USD to add new machines and materials to increase output, Khamis added. The top official revealed that the company injected 1 billion EGP into the factory in 2021 to add over 22 machines, adding that the factory will include more than 24 production lines. The new expansions will create around 2,000 jobs, Khamis noted. (Amwal Al Ghad)
Qatar dairy company Baladna has acquired a 5% stake in Juhayna Food Industries (JUFO) in consideration of 285.8 million EGP.
The deal came in line with Baladna’s strategy to expand in the food and beverages sector in Qatar and abroad. The Qatari company commented that the Egyptian food and beverages market is a big and promising market, adding that Juhayna is expected to generate more revenue as the market grows. (Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE))
Misr Italia Properties is planning to issue securitized bonds worth up to 700 million EGP in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2022.
This marks the second tranche of its 2.5 billion EGP securitization program, El-Assal noted, pointing out that the first tranche was previously issued through EFG Hermes (HRHO) at a value of 794 million EGP. This comes in line with the company’s negotiations with a number of banks over obtaining a loan worth 1.2 billion EGP to provide all necessary financing for its projects, in collaboration with its financial advisor EFG Hermes. In another context, the CEO said that Misr Italia targets contractual sales of 7 billion EGP this year, as compared to sales exceeding 6 billion EGP in 2021. The company’s planning budget for 2022 aims at accelerating the delivery process, mainly in IL BOSCO projects located in the New Administrative Capital, to bring the number of handed-over units to 1,000 by the end of 2022. Moreover, the company is allocating a sum of 3.5 billion EGP this year to spend on the construction works and due installments of land plots. (Shorouk News)