Could Egypt see a return to corporate bonds?

Is Egypt about to see its first corporate bond issuance in nearly a decade? Mansour Amer’s Porto Group has appointed consumer- and structured-finance player Sarwa Capital to study a potential bond or other debt issuance, Porto Group said in a disclosure to the EGX (pdf). The disclosure does not offer further details on the issuance or the company’s financing plans. A source confirmed to Enterprise that a corporate bond issuance is an option on the table, which would make it Egypt’s first significant issuance of corporate paper (other than securitized offerings, where Sarwa is a market leader) in years.