PHARMA-

Eva Pharma’s Saudi subsidiary is building a USD 110 mn research and meds production complex in Sudair Industrial City, CEO Riad Armanious told Asharq Business (watch, runtime: 5:23). The local pharma firm will partner with Saudi institutions on the project, which will include five factories for meds and cosmetics and is expected to start production in 2025, Armanious said.

Stuck meds could soon move out of ports: A backlog of pharma raw materials imports worth USD 150 mn stuck at our ports could be cleared by the end of June after the Madbouly government last month pledged USD 100 mn in support for pharma factories, Gamal El Leithy, head of the Federation of Egyptian Industries’ pharma division, is quoted as telling Al Borsa.

M&A-

JAF Investment receives approval for share transfer of AIH subsidiaries: JAF Investment has obtained the approval of the Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA) to proceed with the transfer of shares in two subsidiaries of Arabia Investments Holding (AIH), AIH said in a disclosure (pdf) to the bourse yesterday. JAF Investment — the family office of AIH chairman Gamal Abdelfatah Othman — submitted an offer last month to acquire 30% stakes in UE Finance for EGP 147 mn and Rawaj Consumer Finance for EGP 30 mn.

SMEs-

Saudi funding for MSMEs: The Saudi Arabia Grant Management Committee is extending EGP 150 mn to Egypt’s Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency (MSMEDA) to finance local industrial projects, according to an MSMEDA statementsaid. The funds will provide the projects with working capital and help them to secure raw materials, machines, and equipment.

VENTURE CAPITAL-

Acasia Ventures opens in Nigeria: Acasia Ventures — the VC arm of the local investment outfit formerly known as Cairo Angels — has opened a new office in Lagos, Nigeria as it aims to expand in the Nigerian market and across Africa, according to a pressrelease (pdf). Twelve of the startups in Acasia’s portfolio are located in Africa, with two based in Nigeria, the release reads. “We have our heritage in Egypt, but we really believe in the future of the whole continent,” said Acasia Ventures General Partner Biola Alabi. Acasia’s Nigerian office comes a few months after the VC set up a space in Dubai.

Local trucking startup Trella has secured USD 3.5 mn from private equity outfit Avanz Capitalas part of an ongoing bridge funding round, Trella CEO Omar Hagrass told Enterprise Logistics. The funding round has so far accrued a total that is “much more than three times” Avanz Capital’s USD 3.5 mn investment in quasi-equity financing. Talks with four or five other investors are still ongoing in what Hagrass referred to as the round’s “final sprint.”

**Read the full story in this morning’s edition of Enterprise Logistics.

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