Good morning, wonderful people, and welcome to the first of two consecutive long weekends. We’re preparing to bid September farewell and welcome October, which — among other things — means the weather is looking ready to cool down.

That fall weather makes it the time to get out of the house and plan some outdoor activities and trips. But it doesn’t have to be an elaborate affair — one-day trips and excursions are very much within reach. This week, we bring you a rundown on farms that are close enough to the capital to be feasible for a brief trip there and back, where you (and your kids, however old they may be) can get a break from city life.

PSA #1- Public schools and universities are back in session as of this Saturday, meaning your morning commutes are going to get a little bit longer. Be sure to leave for work a little earlier next week to account for the extra traffic.

PSA #2- Summer retail hours are out. Winter hours are in. Shops and malls are closing an hour earlier at 10pm on Saturday through Wednesday (11pm on Thursdays, Fridays, and national holidays) now that winter trading hours came into effect as of yesterday. Cafes and restaurants now close at midnight. The government first introduced seasonal retail opening hours in 2020.

Enterprise Weekend comes out each Friday at 9:00am CLT. We’ll be back on Sunday at 6am with EnterpriseAM. Until then: Enjoy the weekend.

LAST WEEK IN 3 MINS-

It was an abridged week, but there was no shortage of big news throughout the past four days.

ELEX 2023-

The update we’ve all had our eyes on: We’re heading to the polls in December. Voting in the next presidential elections will start as early as 1 December, beginning with Egyptian expats, followed by voters here at home, the National Elections Authority (NEA) said at a presser earlier this week. We could have an outcome as early as 18 December, or as late as 16 January if a run-off vote is necessary.

IN CONTEXT- The elections are a complicating factor in the government’s approach to critical matters on the economic front, including a potential fresh currency devaluation. Which brings us to…

ECONOMY-

We’re in the IMF’s good graces with progress on the state privatization program: The IMF is seeing positive signs from the government that we’re serious about its ambitions to sell down state assets, with the Fund responding positively to a number of recent agreements with Gulf and local investors, Bloomberg’s Mirette Magdy reported. The change in sentiment could ease the path towards the all-important review of our USD 3 bn loan program, after the IMF postponed the first and second reviews of the reform program (originally scheduled for March and September) in response to us falling short of complying with key conditions of the loan, including an acceleration of the government’s privatization plans as well as properly floating the EGP.

WE ALSO HAD SOME IMPORTANT CAPITAL MARKETS TIDBITS-

#1- Egypt is being put on review for potential removal from JPMorgan’s widely-tracked suite of emerging-market sovereign bond indexes because investors are facing “material” hurdles repatriating currency from local bonds. The US bank will review Egypt’s eligibility for its Government Bond Index-Emerging Markets (GBI-EM) series over the next three to six months, with the country’s sovereign bonds remaining in the index during the review period.

#2- The secondary t-bill market is changing: The Egyptian Central Securities Depository (ECSD) — the government’s arm for the depository, settlement, and clearing of sovereign debt — has taken on the responsibility for managing the secondary market for t-bills, allowing them to be traded on the EGX. The Central Bank of Egypt had previously administered the secondary market for t-bills and was responsible for clearing and settling trades. The move aims to make the secondary market for t-bills more accessible to investors, boosting trading volumes and lowering yields.

THERE WAS A SLEW OF DEBT TRANSACTIONS-

#1- EFG Corp-Solutions closed an EGP 1.01 bn securitized bond issuance, marking the third issuance in the leasing and factoring firm’s ongoing securitization program.

#2- Halan, the consumer finance subsidiary of MNT-Halan, issued EGP 1.04 bn worth ofsecuritized bonds . The issuance featured four tranches rated P1 and A, and was reportedly 1.5x oversubscribed. Buyers included major banks and investment funds.

#3- Real estate investor Rawasi Urban Development closed a EGP 789 mn securitizedbondissuance, backed by a EGP 1.3 bn portfolio of leasing receivables. The issuance was sold in three tranches rated P1, AA, and A.

#4- Kandil Steel is borrowing from the IFC amid industry headwinds: The International Finance Corporation (IFC) signed off on a USD 25 mn loan to Kandil Steel, with the funding set to be used to “support the company’s operational and financial resilience” by funding working capital and enabling it to continue purchasing raw materials. Kandil’s working capital requirements have risen on the back of rising raw material costs and reduced access to USD.

ENERGY-

We had one new bid round launching… International energy companies are being invited to search for new oil and gas fields in Egypt as the Madbouly government looks to reverse declining production and draw new investment into the sector. Companies have until 25 February 2024 to submit offers. The ministry is offering 10 blocks in the Western Desert, seven in the Gulf of Suez, four in the Red Sea, and two in the Eastern Desert. Thirteen of the zones are under the control of Ganope and the other 10 are managed by EGPC. Firms can bid for exploration licenses of up to seven years and will be granted 20-year extendable development leases if they make a discovery

…and another one ending: Four international oil and gas firms were awarded exploration concessions via the bid round launched by the state-owned Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company. Eni will receive two concessions in the Mediterranean; a consortium of Eni, BP, and Qatar Energy will receive one concession in the Mediterranean; and Russia’s Zarubezhneft will receive one in the Nile Delta. The total signing bonus on the four assets amounts to USD 7.5 mn, while the minimum investment in the exploration periods for each concession is set at USD 281 mn.

PLUS: RECAPPING THE ENTERPRISE FINANCE FORUM-

#1- The seven themes keeping the finance industry up at night: We identified seven themes while preparing our first Enterprise Finance Forum — themes that set the tone for us all every workday and every quarter of 2023. Most of those themes look set to persist well into 2024. It’s simple really, we’ve never gathered as a community at a time that is so simultaneously challenging and replete with avenues through which to grow our businesses.

#2- Good luck raising money these days. The era of cheap money has given way to a high-interest-rate environment both globally and at home, making it difficult for venture capital funds to raise money and harder still for startups to tap VCs. The FX crunch, meanwhile, has strategics and private equity players alike looking to keep their dry powder … dry. Who wants to invest today if they think it likely they will tell their investment committee one later that they’re going to have to take a charge post devaluation?

WHAT’S HAPPENING NEXT WEEK-

A new academic year begins: Egypt’s public universities and schools are starting their new academic years this Saturday.

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

YOUR MOST CLICKED LINKS-

  • McKinsey’s Larry Lerner’s presentation on The Promise of AI & GenAI in Banking: Separating Hype from Potential — which he discussed at the Enterprise Finance Forum — was far and away the most clicked link this past week. (Presentation — pdf)
  • McKinsey also engaged many of you with a separate report, What Every CEO Should Know About Generative AI. (Report — pdf)
  • Mirette Magdy’s article on Bloomberg about the next deval in light of the upcoming elections pulled in readers. (Bloomberg article)
  • Nahkla, which has a store at The Grand Egyptian Museum, got some love as our museum was listed as one of the best museum gift shops, globally. (Instagram page)
  • And the FT article that gave a shout to the GEM’s gift store invited a lot of clicks. (Financial Times)

AROUND THE WORLD IN SEVEN DAYS-

A big moment in the global news cycle in the past few days: MbS’ recent interview with Fox News. The interview — the Saudi Crown Prince’s first with a major US news network in four years — saw Mohammed bin Salman addressing questions on everything from the 9/11 attacks and whether the Saudi government was in any way involved, the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, and normalization of diplomatic ties with Israel. MbS also discussed his ambitious Saudi Vision 2030, including his country’s investments in sports as part of the economic diversification plan. You can watch the full interview here(runtime: 32:17).

Evergrande CEO Hui Ka Yan is under residential surveillance, following the wealth management staff’ s detention last month. He isn’t charged with anything yet, as per this type of informal detention but he won’t be able to travel or communicate freely with the outside world. This surveillance comes after a general doubt over the company’s ability to make good on its restructuring plan as its debt can lead it to failure and possible liquidation.

Amazon intends to invest USD 4 bn in Anthropic . The step includes getting a minority interest stake in the AI company that is a rival to OpenAI, the brains behind ChatGPT. The move intends to align with competitors such as Microsoft that has already signed on with OpenAI.

Armenians from the Nagorno-Karabakh region are on their way to Armenia:The area that is located in Azerbaijan has been one of dispute since the Soviet era and more recently it has seen the population face a defeat at the hands of the Azerbaijanis, leading 120k Armenians in the region to leave out of fear of ethnic cleansing.

☀️ THE WEATHER THIS WEEKEND- Expect the mercury to rise to 39°C at its peak during the daytime today and tomorrow, with both days seeing a moderate 27°C low in the evening. Saturday’s weather will reach 37°C at its highest and drop to a cooler 25°C at night, according to our favorite weather app.

HAPPENING THIS WEEKEND-

Samar Tarek, Muslim and Molotof are all set to perform today at the Greek Campus. Tickets are available on Ticketsmall here.

Medhat Saleh will be performing at the Cairo Opera House today at 8:30 pm. Get your tickets on Ticketsmall.

Get your afro & reggaeton on with Amen Ra & BubbleGum Kollectiv at Cairo Jazz Club610 today at 9pm. To reserve your spot, send them a message on their Facebook page.

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