Good morning, wonderful, people, and a very happy THURSDAY. We’re ending a busy news week with another packed issue, bringing you stories on everything from fresh international development finance to our roundup of the most important legislation passed by the House of Representatives in its most recent session. But first…

REJOICE- We have a four-day weekend next week: Thursday, 20 July and Sunday, 23 July will be national holidays for the public and private sector to mark the Islamic New Year and Egypt’s Independence Day, according to a cabinet statement. We’ll be keeping our eyes peeled for confirmations from the Central Bank of Egypt and the EGX that the same holidays will apply for the banking sector, and the bourse.

It will be the last long weekend until late September when we down tools for the Prophet Muhammad’s birthday.

THE BIG STORY here at home this morning: We’re getting a ton of EBRD money. Two state-owned banks and impact investor Mediterrania Capital Partners are getting more than USD 530 mn in fresh financing from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. We have the full story in today’s news well.

SOUND SMART- EBRD has a current portfolio here of some EUR 4.6 bn and has invested more than EUR 10 bn in Egypt since day one. Most of its investment is in private sector companies, and its priorities include the finance industry, agribusiness, infrastructure, transportation, and telecoms.

AND-BlackRock could have more appetite for Egypt. The world’s biggest asset manager is exploring more investment in the Egyptian market, Gordon Fraser (bio), co-head of global emerging markets equities at a division of BlackRock’s active equities group, said during a meeting with Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly yesterday, according to a cabinet statement. Fraser is quoted as saying that the government’s moves to implement its economic reform program had encouraged BlackRock to look into deploying more capital here. EFG Holding chief Karim Awad was also at the meeting.

More to come: BlackRock representatives were also due to meet with the governor of the central bank, officials from the sovereign fund, and private sector firms, the statement reads.

ALSO- Our friends at home-grown shipping giant Transmar have rolled out a new reefer line connecting Egypt’s Adabiya Port with the ports of Aden and Hodeida in Yemen, the company said in a statement (pdf). The route will be biased toward refrigerated and dry cargo to help boost Yemen’s food security, the release added. The service launched at the end of June, head of marketing at Transmar, Angie Mahran, told Enterprise Logistics.

HAPPENING TODAY-

Egypt will today host a peacemaking summit of Sudan’s neighbors to look into ways to put an end to the country’s ongoing civil war. The summit will work to set up “effective mechanisms” to stop the bloodshed in coordination with regional and international players. The leaders of Libya, Chad, the Central African Republic, South Sudan, Ethiopia, and Eritrea are expected to attend, according to the National.

The summit has provided an opening for talks with Ethiopia on GERD: President Abdel Fattah El Sisi last night met Ethiopian PM Abiy Ahmed after the latter landed in Cairo for the Sudan summit, Ittihadiya said in a statement. Sudan and the disputed Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) were on the agenda. This comes shortly after reports that Egypt and Ethiopia will soon resume talks on the filling and operation of the dam.

The government will wrap up the disbursement of a first batch of export subsidiesunder the sixth phase of its subsidies program, the Finance Ministry said in a statement. FinMin is disbursing EGP 7.5 bn to some 750 exporters yesterday and today, The second tranche will be paid out next week on 19 and 20 July, while the third will be paid on 2 and 3 August.

The program so far: The ministry has so far paid EGP 42 bn to exporters since the program first started in 2019.

WATCH THIS SPACE-

ORA is heading to Iraq: Naguib Sawiris’ ORA Developers wants to launch a “huge” real estate project in Iraq, Sawiris told Asharq Business, without providing any details.

Beltone is close to wrapping its huge capital increase: The landmark EGP 10 bn capital increase is now 98% covered as of the end of its first phase, which closed on Tuesday, Beltone said in a regulatory filing (pdf)yesterday. Some 4.89 mn shares of the 5 mn on offer have been snapped up. The second phase of the capital increase runs today through Monday. Investors welcomed the news, with the company’s shares up 1.0% at the closing bell yesterday at EGP 4.08 apiece.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD-

It’s another morning all about the Nato summit in Vilnius: The international press is yet to shift its focus from the summit, which wrapped up yesterday. Ukraine gained long-term security assurances from the US and its allies yesterday, though they stopped short of allowing Kyiv to join the alliance while the conflict with Russia continues. US President Joe Biden accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of having a “craven lust for land and power” as he reiterated the country’s support for Ukraine. (Reuters | Bloomberg | FT | DW | CNN | Washington Post)

AND- US inflation dipped to 3% in June, the slowest pace since March 2021, according to the Wall Street Journal.

PLUS- The Madbouly cabinet’s big privatization update is still generating international headlines: The government’s announcement that it has secured USD 1.9 bn of asset sales under its privatization program is “a positive sign,” but more needs to be done to stabilize the economy, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank chief economist Monica Malik told the Financial Times. “To secure wider inflows, Egypt will need to move to a flexible exchange rate. These won’t come as long as the currency is perceived as overvalued,” she is quoted as saying.

MARKET WATCH-

Could Russia regain access to SWIFT in return for an extension of the Black Sea grain pact? The UN has offered that a subsidiary of Russia’s agricultural bank be reconnected to the SWIFT international payment network in return for Moscow agreeing to extend a pact allowing Ukrainian grain safe passage through the Black Sea, sources familiar with the matter are quoted as telling Reuters. Russian banks were locked out of SWIFT as part of sanctions imposed at the outbreak of the war with Ukraine.

REMEMBER- Turkey recently said it wants a further month-long extension of the agreement, which has already been extended for two months and expires on 17 July.

CLARIFICATION-

Here’s what’s happening with Al Ezz Dekheila: In our story covering the government’s sale of Al Ezz Dekheila shares and the company’s planned delisting, we incorrectly identified Ezz Steel as the buyer. Though the company will likely end up acquiring full ownership of its subsidiary following the upcoming shareholder meeting, it was Al Ezz Dekheila that bought the shares.

ICYMI- On Tuesday, the government said that it would sell its entire 31% stake in Al Ezz Dekheila as part of its privatization program. Hours earlier, the company announced that it would be voluntarily delisting from the EGX within three months.

Al Ezz Dekheila is the buyer: Al Ezz Dekheila will use foreign-currency loans to buy back the freefloat shares held by government entities. This will result in the company owning 31% of its shares, while Ezz Steel will hold a 64% stake, and the remainder will be held by minority shareholders. With more than 90% of the company now in private hands, the company plans to voluntarily delist from the EGX, a decision that will be voted on at the 5 August shareholder meeting.

Al Ezz Dekheila plans to retire all of the shares acquired from the government after the transaction. This will leave Ezz Steel with almost full ownership of the now-private company — and potentially 100% control depending on how many of the minority shareholders decide to sell their shares. Shareholders will vote on whether to retire the shares at the 5 August meeting.

An Emirati syndicated loan to fund the buy back: Ezz Steel has secured a USD 125 mnsyndicated facility from a number of Emirati banks to fund part of the buyout, a representative from Ezz Steel told Enterprise, without disclosing the identity of the lenders.

CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

Egyptian BoDs form climate alliance: Launched at a reception yesterday, the Egyptian branch of the global Climate Governance Initiative, Chapter Zero Egypt, aims to educate corporate boards of directors on climate change and equip its members with the tools to help tackle it, Zawya reports.

We’re hosting an environment and climate investment forum at the end of the month, Environment Minister Yasmine Fouad said yesterday during her participation at the Chapter Zero launch. The forum will look into nontraditional forms of climate investment in sectors including ecotourism and agricultural waste..

Check out our full calendar on the web for a comprehensive listing of upcoming news events, national holidays and news triggers.

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