Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to a very rainy start to the business week here in Om El Donia.

So, when do we eat? Maghrib prayers are at 6:09 pm in the capital city, and you’ll have until 4:25 am tomorrow to hydrate and caffeinate ahead of fajr.

THE BIG STORY TODAY

Valu raises EGP 888 mn in securitized bonds: EFG Holding’s fintech platform Valu has issued an EGP 888 mn securitized bond issuance, which was backed by a receivables portfolio assigned to EFG for Securitization, the firm announced in a statement (pdf). The two-tranche issuance received ratings of Prime 1 and Prime 2 respectively, with tenors between 6 to 12 months.

About the issuance: Valu’s issuance, which is part of an EGP 9 bn extended securitization program, brings the firm’s total issuances to eight, following an EGP 953-mn issuance in December.

More to come? The company plans to issue around EGP 4 bn worth of securitized bonds this year, Valu CEO Walid Hassouna said earlier this month.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD

Dominating the headlines in the foreign press this afternoon is the attack on a rock concert outside of Moscow that has claimed 133 lives, so far. The deadliest attack in over two decades was instigated by gunmen who fired automatic weapons on the audience on Friday evening. While ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attack, Russian President Vladimir Putin did not make any reference to the group in a public address on Saturday, writes Reuters. Putin has said that the attackers have been trying to escape to Ukraine, helped across the border by “the Ukrainian side.” Ukraine has denied any ties to the attack. (New York Times | Bloomberg | Associated Press)

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

  • EBRD working to help Egypt unlock USD 1 bn from IMF’s Resilience and Sustainability Facility. On the heels of the high-level European visit to Cairo last week, to ink a joint strategic and comprehensive partnership with Egypt, Enterprise sat down with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development’s (EBRD) Head of Egypt Khalid Hamza to find out more about the new partnership.
  • A Turkish industrial zone in Egypt back in the cards? Turkish firm Doğuş Construction and Trade has signed an MoU with the Transport Ministry to establish an industrial and logistics zone inGargoub on the country’s northwest coast with over USD 7 bn in estimated investment.
  • Act Financial’s long-awaited IPO approaching? Investment management firm ActFinancial is working to IPO on the EGX in 2Q 2024.

enterprise

*** It’s Inside Industry day —your weekly briefing of all things industrial in Egypt. Inside Industry focuses each Sunday on what it takes to turn Egypt into a manufacturing and export powerhouse, ranging from initial investment and planning to product distribution, through to land allocation to industrial processes, supply chain management, labor, automation and technology, inputs and exports, regulation and policy.

In today’s issue: Industry players hope to see new government initiatives to help them resume operations at full capacity and unlock advantage of more accessible exports as the weakened EGP makes local products more competitive.

☀️ TOMORROW’S WEATHER- Look for sunny skies with the mercury climbing to 22°C and dropping to a low of 12°C in the night, according to our favorite weather app.

Tags: