Contrary to our expectations, the CBE decided to keep policy rates unchanged, citing slowing global activity, normalization of domestic economic activity and slower pace of increase in domestic inflation.
During the visit of Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani to Egypt, discussions with President El Sisi were held including boosting cooperation in energy and agriculture, upping trade flows, and maximizing Qatari investments in Egypt.
According to local media, Aldar Properties intends to acquire a majority stake in MNHD (FV: EGP3.26, OW) for around EGP3.00/share. This is close to our valuation of EGP3.26/share.
ACAMD received an offer from the Egyptian Company for Housing and Development - RAMW to co-develop ACAMD's 24.8k sqm Tanta land plot. Expected project sales amount to EGP1.5-2.8 billion, depending on building permits.
A delegation of Saudi real estate investors intends to visit the New Administrative Capital, Galala, and New Alamein during the next three days to look into investment opportunities in those cities.
The Egyptian National Authority for Tunnels (NAT) awarded the consortium Thales- ORAS- Colas Rail, a new contract to design and build the Telecommunications, Centralised Control, and Ticketing systems for the Cairo Metro Line 4 Phase 1. The contract is worth some USD659 million, with USD159 million of that for Colas.
Al Shorouk Newspaper reported that businessman, Ahmed Ezz, is studying the process of merging the two companies "Al Ezz Al Dekheila (IRAX) and Ezz Steel (ESRS) " into one entity through a share swap.
GB Auto’s car finance arm Drive Finance has closed its first EGP 700 mn securitized bond issuance as part of a wider EGP 2 bn program. The proceeds will be used to “deleverage Drive’s balance sheet” and unlock further chances for growth.
Some 20k vehicles were delivered in FY2021-2022 through the government’s natgas vehicle replacement strategy. The state has so far spent some EGP 465 mn on the plan and recently added Sharm El Sheikh to the initiative, which now includes Luxor, Aswan, Cairo, Giza, Qalubiya, Alexandria, Port Said, Suez, and the Red Sea.
Abou Ghaly Motors is now in the final stage of negotiations with Chinese automaker Geely to begin producing their cars in Egypt under a long-term contract,, with an eye to starting production in August 2023. The company plans to start by producing 4k cars in the first year and grow output by 20% annually until it reaches 7k cars per year.
Mercedes-Benz recently received a plot of land in the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone) for a logistics base that will distribute cars locally and for re-export, raising hopes that the company could restart local assembly in Egypt after it shut it down in 2015.
An unnamed German car manufacturer will soon sign an agreement with an Egyptian company to cooperate on the local production of electric vehicles.
Banque Misr has launched Cash-in & Cash-out services, which allows cash depositing and withdrawals through POS machines.
The listing of a 25% stake in Misr Life Insurance Company on the EGX is expected to be completed during the next fiscal year 2022/23.
Supermarket chain Aldi is also looking at potentially expanding to Egypt.
