THIS EVENING: CBE + KIA to offload stakes in AAIB. Plus: No cyberattack at Fawry

Good afternoon friends and Happy Thursday. The week has ended with privatization updates entering our news cycle alongside the conflict dominating our region and headlines.

THE BIG STORIES TODAY

Fawry denies it faced a cyberattack: E-payments giant Fawry did not experience a cyberattack earlier today, the company said in a disclosure (pdf) to the EGX, denying rumors that were circling on social media and WhatsApp that customers’ personal information was exposed in a hack. The company conducted security tests and did not find evidence of a data leak, according to the disclosure.

CBE and KIA to divest stakes in AAIB? The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) and Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA) are each set to offload a 20% stake in the Arab African International Bank, an informed source told Enterprise. The CBE and the KIA each own a 49.4% stake in AAIB, according to the lender’s latest published annual report (pdf). The sellers are looking to divest their shares on the EGX and to strategic investors. The news was first picked up by Arab World Press.
Correction on 11 November 2023: An earlier version of this story miswrote the Arab African International Bank as the Arab African Investment Bank.

Remember: AAIB is on the government’s list of 35 state-owned companies geared for privatization.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD

Updates on Israel’s onslaught of Gaza and highlights of the GOP debates are dominating the headlines in the international press. The US attack on a weapons depot in Syria utilized by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard yesterday is reportedly a result of attacks on US forces in Iraq and Syria. The United Nations’ Chief of Human Rights has also accused Israel and Hamas of committing war crimes calling for a ceasefire. (Bloomberg | Reuters)

The GOP debates in Florida by five republican candidates vying for the campaign run instead of Trump steered the conversation as they undermined the former president on several policies as their way to win votes over to their camps. (Associated Press | Washington Post | Wall Street Journal)

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

• We need a foreign currency liquidity buffer of between USD 8-10 bn to get through the FX crunch and go ahead with a successful float in the coming months.
• Standard Chartered will open in Egypt by the end of this year: British multinational lender Standard Chartered Egypt expects to begin operations by the end of 2023.
• Some of us have been given yet another reason to quit: State-owned tobacco giant Eastern Company published a new price list for its tobacco products starting today that raises prices between 12% and 33%.

☀️ TOMORROW’S WEATHER- Expect a high of 29°C during the daytime and a drop to 20°C in the evening, according to our favorite weather app. There might be some rain and dust storms across the nation today and possibly continuing over the weekend, tells us the Egyptian Meteorological Authority.