Good afternoon, wonderful people, and welcome to a busy hump day. Where yesterday was largely dominated by M&A news, today is shaping up to be a more heterogeneous news day, with a little bit of everything.

THE BIG STORIES TODAY

#1- CIHC studying acquisition bids for Eastern Company stake: State-owned Chemical Industries Holding Company (CIHC) is looking at several offers it has received to acquire 30% of its 51% stake in Eastern Company , CIHC said in a statement. Japan Tobacco International is also following Philip Morris’ footsteps with a rival minority stake bid in Eastern Company, Asharq Business reports, citing two unnamed sources reportedly familiar with the negotiations.

#2- Unemployment inched down to 7% in 2Q 2023, down 0.1 percentage points from the first quarter of the year, according to data (pdf) released by statistics agency Capmas. Unemployment was down 0.2 percentage points compared with the same period last year.

REMEMBER- The official unemployment rate only includes people who are looking for work. The labor force participation rate — which counts everyone aged 15-64 either in work or actively looking for work — recorded 43%, unchanged from last quarter and up from 42.6% in the same quarter of 2022.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD

Microsoft’s new proposal to acquire Activision Blizzard, a US tech giant, is dominating headlines in the international business press. An initial bid issued in January 2022, offering USD 69 bn, has met regulatory obstacles in the US, Europe, and the UK. The new proposal has passed the initial stage with the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and they will share their decision by Friday, 18 October. The previous proposal was rejected by the CMA citing a possible disruption to the competition of the emerging cloud game market in Europe, which Microsoft has offered to resolve by not having cloud rights for existing Activision PC and console games, or for more releases in the next 15 years. (Reuters | Financial Times | Wall Street Journal | CNBC)

** CATCH UP QUICK on the top stories from today’s EnterpriseAM:

  • No due diligence on United Bank just yet: Investors interested in acquiring stakes in United Bank will begin due diligence by the end of September.
  • Sukuk issuances just got easier: Companies will now be able to sell sukuk without first acquiring a credit rating after the Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA) waived the requirement.
  • A fresh bid for locally-made electrolyzers in Egypt: Hydrogen Egypt is partnering up with China’s Peric Hydrogen Technologies to explore the manufacturing and assembly of electrolyzers critical for green hydrogen production in Egypt.

CHECK OUT OUR AGENDA-

The Enterprise Finance Forum is taking place on 18-19 September at the St. Regis Hotel in Cairo. This flagship forum is the latest in our must-attend series of invitation-only, C-suite-level gatherings that allow senior members of our community to openly and frankly discuss critical issues in key sectors of the economy.

This is our first two-day event,which should give us plenty of time to dive into the nitty gritty of this industry we love. Our panels will see CEOs, bankers, investors and founders gather to discuss the future and trends shaping banking, finance, fintech and NBFS.

Our full agenda will be out at month’s end. Among the topics we’ll be discussing:

  • Looking into the crystal ball: Top industry CEOs will join us on stage to answer tough questions on where we are as an industry, the forces that will shape all of our businesses going forward, and their views on dealflow in the year ahead.
  • Surviving nuclear winter: We discuss how private equity and venture capital players are tackling challenges including fundraising and deployment in an environment in which it’s awfully difficult to price your local asset in USD terms.
  • The robots are coming: We explore what the coming AI and big data means for the industry in our part of the world and what can bankers, NBFI, and fintech players do to capitalize on them.
  • What do you do when nobody wants to be a banker — and when those who are already (investment or commercial) bankers are either (a) dreaming of doing their own startup or (b) moving to Dubai (or, increasingly, Riyadh)? We go deep into the weeds with industry leaders on how they’re building talent for tomorrow.
  • NBFIs are a bubble. Prove me wrong: We chart the explosive rise of NBFIs and ask whether the industry is ready for a wave of consolidation. We’ll dive into whether consumer finance is starting to mature as a segment — and ask which sector is next.
  • Handicapping the winners and losers in fintech in 2024: We dive deep into which categories are getting traction, where the untapped opportunities are, what business they would start today if they could, and what we can expect of the sector in the year ahead.
  • What’s a bank, anyway? Wherein we talk challenger and neobanks with the players looking to shake up the brick-and-mortar industry.

** NEW: MORE NETWORKING TIME- Our agenda includes expanded networking time, including an expanded coffee break and a post-event networking room for you to interact with your peers and speak one-on-one with the team at Enterprise.

STAY TUNED for more detail about our exciting agenda in the weeks to come.

TAP OR CLICK HERE if you want to express interest in attending. We’ll be sending out the first batch of invitations soon.

Do you want to become a commercial partner? Ping a note to Moustafa Taalab, our head of commercial.

☀️ TOMORROW’S WEATHER- Expect the heat to continue with the mercury staying at 40°C during the day and dropping to 23°C in the evening, tells us our favorite weather app.

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