Good morning friends and HAPPY FRIDAY. We hope that you’re enjoying the milder weather and getting some respite from the past week.

In the Enterprise guide this week, we intend to bring you closer to your community that is working hard during this time of adversity to support local brands.

With this said, we have prepared a guide to some local fast food joints in our community that are either supporting more local brands and/or using some of their proceeds to support our brothers and sisters in Gaza.

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.

WITH THE PAUSE IN FIGHTING, GAZA IS NOW IN NEED OF MORE AID-

Want to support relief efforts in Gaza, but don’t know how? We’ve got you. More than 1 mn people in Gaza have been thrown from their homes and every human being there lacks access to food, water, and fuel amid the most intense bombardment any population has endured this century. The pause in fighting means that there’s a chance to support Gaza with more aid that will make a difference.

The folks at Talabat are processing donations for a range of Gaza relief appeals by charities including the Egyptian Food Bank and Misr El Kheir. Pay in EGP using your credit card.

Or check out our list of charities to which you can make direct donations via bank deposit and / or Fawry.

LAST WEEK IN 3 MINS- Israel’s war on Gaza continued to lead the news cycle at home and globally and ended the weekas we anticipate the four-day truce that should have begun yesterday but has been moved forward to today.

AT HOME- We saw a crucial development in the state’s privatization drive as well as some fresh loan agreements and bills moving along in the House of Representatives.

UPDATES ON THE TEMPORARY REPRIEVE AT THE END OF ANOTHER BRUTAL WEEK IN GAZA-

#1- The truce in Gaza started two hours ago, after ithas been postponed for a day.Israel continued its assault of the strip yesterday with 300 air strikes, which included Khan Younis, a southern city that Israel had claimed would not be attacked, reports Reuters.

The hostage-for-ceasefire agreement should see a four-day pause in fightingin return for the release of some hostages. Following weeks of negotiations mediated by Egypt and Qatar, Hamas agreed to release 50 women and children during the four-day truce in exchange for the release of 150 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel and that 200 additional aid trucks be granted permission to cross through the Rafah border every day.

#2- Egypt drafted a UN Security Council resolution that aims to overcome “existing obstacles and imbalances” to the entry of aid into Gaza, the Foreign Ministry said earlier this week.

#3- Madbouly reiterated the government’s refusal to accept the displacement of Palestinians into Sinai: “Egypt will take a firm reaction against any attempts to resettle Palestinians in Sinai,” Madbouly told MPs on Tuesday.

#4- Earlier in the week, Israeli forces ordered doctors, patients and refugees to evacuate Gaza City’s Al Shifa Hospital. Doctors and witnesses reported that the IDF had given the thousands of people at the hospital an hour to vacate the area and escorted some of them out at gunpoint.

…and continued its air assault on the Jabalia refugee camp and one UN school, which Egypt decried as a war crime and a “deliberate insult to the UN.”

#5- Still, Israel is, so far, yet to provide evidence of the claimed Hamas command center underneath Al Shifa: The military’s siege has all but destroyed Al Shifa as a functioning hospital, with a visiting UN team calling it a “ death zone ” after surveying the site on Saturday.

#6- Another Israeli minister called for ethnic cleansing: Intelligence Minister Gila Gamliel became the latest senior government official to call for the “voluntary resettlement” of Palestinians outside of Gaza.

…but the EU isn’t on board: EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen backed Egypt’s rejection of Israeli ambitions to forcibly displace Gazans into Sinai during talks with President Abdel Fattah El Sisi in Cairo on Saturday.

#7- The death toll in Gaza rose to 14.5k + and at least 53 journalists have been killed since Israel started its bombardement of the territory, marking the deadliest month for journalists since CPJ began gathering data in 1992.

WE SAW A MAJOR DEVELOPMENTS IN THE STATE’S PRIVATIZATION DRIVE-

The government offloaded 30% of Eastern Company in a stake sale worth USD 625 mn, making it the single-largest transaction since it rebooted its privatization drive earlier this year.

UAE-based Global Investment Holding (GIH) purchased the stake from the company’s state-owned majority shareholder, the Holding Company for Chemical Industries (CIHC) for EGP 24.52 apiece, totaling EGP 16.4 bn (USD 532 mn). GIH agreed to pay an additional EGP 4.38 per share, taking the total value of the transaction to EGP 19.3 bn (USD 625 mn) and making it the company’s single-largest shareholder.

Advisors: Our friends at EFG Hermes advised GIH on the transaction and were also sole broker for its execution, they said in a statement (pdf).

GIH will provide Eastern Company with some USD 150 mn in hard currency next year to bolster the cigarette maker’s ability to source manufacturing inputs. GIH reportedly sees the facility as a key measure to ensure the profitability of its new investment.

The government will use the bulk of the proceeds from the sale to invest in fresh capacity at existing state-owned fertilizer plants with an eye to ramping up exports. It will use the rest of the cash to help narrow the budget deficit.

IT WAS A RELATIVELY BRISK WEEK ON THE ECONOMY FRONT-

#1- The IMF is “seriously considering” increasing Egypt’s USD 3 bn loan program due to the war in Gaza, IMF Director Kristalina Georgieva said this week. “Investors are going to be shy to go to [these countries]. The cost of ins., if you want to move goods, they go up. Risks of even more refugees in countries that are already accepting more,” Georgieva previously said.

#2- BMI expects state asset sales to underpin stronger economic growth this year:Economic growth will accelerate to 4.2% this year from 3.8% in FY 2022-2023 as progress on asset sales draws new FDI that will “more than offset” the impact of falling demand and limited ability to cut imports according to BMI, a research unit of Fitch Solutions.

Still, BMI’s latest outlook is a minor downgrade from its previous 4.4% forecast following the outbreak of war in Gaza, which it says will drag on investment, consumption, and exports.

A HANDFUL OF INVESTMENT UPDATES WORTH NOTING-

#1- Units of Saudi Arabia’s Fawaz Abdulaziz Alhokair Company (Alhokair) could invest as much as USD 1.5 bn in Egypt in 2024. Energy, real estate, and infrastructure are on the priority list.

#2-Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) raised its stake in EGX-listed fintech player e-Finance by two percentage points to 27% by purchasing freefloat shares. The Saudi wealth fund acquired 25% of the company last year for EGP 7.5 bn, becoming its single-largest shareholder and getting two seats on the board

#3- Mitsui & Co. agreed to purchase a stake in Egyptian broiler chicken producer Wadi Poultry. The size of the stake and the investment were not disclosed.

AND OUR TOURISM AMBITIONS MIGHT STILL BE ON TRACK –

Egypt saw some 13 mn tourist arrivals in the first nine months of the year. This puts us on track to hit our target of 15 mn visitors in 2023, up 32% from the year before, despite worsening tourist appetite in the region since the onset of the war in Gaza.

WE ALSO SAW A FEW LOAN AGREEMENTS INKED-

#1- CIB is getting a USD 150 mn subordinated loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to strengthen its tier II capital, support growth, and protect it from external economic shocks.

#2- Turkey’s Hayat is borrowing EUR 30 mn to expand in Egypt: Emirates NBD Egypt signed a EUR 30 mn medium-term loan agreement with Turkish sanitary product company Hayat’s local subsidiary Hayat Egypt to help it finance a new USD 70 mn tissue factory in Ain Sokhna.

AND SOME MOVEMENT IN OUR MANUFACTURING SECTOR-

#1- The IDA extended its break for industrial investors: The Industrial Development Authority (IDA) pushed back the deadline for investors who have not been able to finish construction and obtain licenses for the factories they’ve been allotted land for within the required three-year period until 24 January. The extension was first introduced in January with a 24 July deadline.

#2- Local plastics manufacturer Al Ahram Plastic Company is looking to set up an EGP 1bn packaging material factory in Badr City. The new factory, part of its expansion plan to double production, will have a production capacity of 60k tons a year, 80% of which will be exported. The manufacturer is expected to kick off operations within the coming three months.

PARLIAMENT SIGNED OFF ON A HANDFUL OF BILLS-

#1- The House of Representatives approved a raft of new bills last week:

  • The building reconciliation act earned the House’s seal of approval.
  • Amendments to the Child Law got the greenlight.
  • A 30-year loan worth JPY 100 bn from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to fund the initial stage of Cairo’s Metro Line 4 got the go-ahead.

WHAT’S HAPPENING NEXT WEEK-

OPEC+ push policy meeting to end of month. The Oil cartel made a surprise statement early on Thursday to postpone their ministerial policy meeting, which will now be held on 30 November instead of 25 – 26 November. The delay was reportedly due to a lack of consensus on output cuts.

COP28 kicks off on Thursday, 30 Novemberin Dubai. The conference will run until Tuesday 12 December, where governments for the first time will conduct a Global Stocktake (GST) of their progress on nationally determined contributions (NDCs) committed to at the Paris Climate Accords in 2015. Expect to see Egypt pushing its landmark “just financing” policy unveiled at last year’s conference in Sharm El Sheikh.

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-

  • Egyptian Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly’s statement that the currency crisis will be over soon received some curious clicks… (YouTube video, runtime: 2:58)
  • …while Lamees El Hadidi demanding an explanation from the Madbouly government as to how the currency crisis will be resolved got plenty of concerned clicks. (YouTube video, runtime: 3:19)
  • Japanese Mitsui & Co. purchasing a stake in Wadi Poultry was widely read. (WadiFood’s statement)
  • Dai Pescatori’s Instagram page from our recommendation got lots of love. (Instagram page)
  • The White House condemning Musk for his anti semitic statements was frequently opened. (Reuters story)

AROUND THE WORLD IN SEVEN DAYS-

OpenAI CEO’s whirlwind week saw significant coverage on the front pages of international news outlets: It was a tumultuous week at OpenAI, the artificial intelligence company behind ChatGPT, after its board of directors fired CEO, Sam Altman, before reinstating him on Wednesday in response to pressure from employees and allies. Altman’s initial firing reportedly came as a result of growing concerns from some board members over the global risk posed by the company’s technology and that the chief executive was not being entirely communicative with the board. Several hundred employees threatened to quit in protest of the decision, which was ultimately reversed.

The CEO of the world’s largest crypto exchange pleading guilty to money laundering was all over the financial press: Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao stepped down and pleaded guilty to breaching anti-money laundering laws in the US in what was described by prosecutors as one of the steepest corporate penalties in US history. The company agreed to pay a USD 4.3 bn settlement to the government, and completely exit the US.

☀️ THE WEATHER THIS WEEKEND- Look for some sun with a high of 26°C during the day and dropping to 15°C in the evening. On Saturday, we can expect more of the same but there will be some fog in the early hours tomorrow.

HAPPENING THIS WEEKEND-

Meet the virtual Tutankhamun. The Grand Egyptian Museum is hosting an interactive Tutankhamun exhibition, in partnership with the Spanish Madrid Artes Digitales Foundation. The exhibition opened its doors last Wednesday and will continue until Saturday, 16 December. You can book your tour from here.

Unleash your inner artist at the Self-portrait workshop hosted by Dawar Artsevery Saturday until 16 December. Click here for more information.

HAPPENING NEXT WEEKEND-

The Christmas Charity Bazaar will bring the warmth of the holiday season on Friday, 1 December, at All Saints’ Cathedral, Zamalek. The bazaar runs from 10:30am until 4pm. Proceeds will benefit a variety of charities here in Egypt.

Syrian-German band Shkoon is performing in Egypt for Gaza. The concert will be held at the Pyramids on Friday, 1 December. Part of the concert’s proceeds will be donated to humanitarian aid dedicated to Gaza. Tickets are available here.

Wael Al Fashni x El Sawy Culturewheel. The Egyptian singer Wael All Fashni will be performing at El Sawy Culturewheel, Zamalek on Saturday, 2 December. Tickets are available here.

Tags: