Helios Investment Partners eyes a further three big-ticket Egypt acquisitions

Good afternoon, and a happy hump day to you all.

THE BIG STORY TODAY-

Raya Foods may just be the beginning of Helios’ Egypt acquisition spree: Africa-focussed and London-based PE outfit Helios Investment Partners is studying acquiring stakes in a further three Egyptian companies, the company’s consumer and healthcare head Raed Barkatis told Al Arabiya . The three companies work in the fintech, digital infrastructure, data center, and consumer sectors and could see Helios invest between USD 40 mn-150 mn per company, Barkatis added.

Remember: Raya Holding’s board approved and initially accepted Helios’ offer to acquire 49% of subsidiary Raya Foods for USD 40 mn last week. Half of Helios’ USD 40 mn acquisition bid will go towards building a new factory partly dedicated to freeze-dried fruits and vegetables with the aim of upping exports.

HAPPENING NOW-

Egypt makes its debut at Brics’ annual leaders summit: President Abdel Fattah El Sisi is in the Russian city of Kazan for the Brics Summit 2024, which officially kicked off today, according to an Ittihadeya statement. Egypt plans to present its vision for closer cooperation among member states and multilateral efforts to tackle current political and economic challenges in the region and beyond.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD-

Calls for a ceasefire are falling on deaf ears once again in Israel, with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s trip to the country being overshadowed by Israel ramping up its bloody strikes on civilian infrastructure and the displaced in Lebanon and Gaza. Following his meetings with Netanyahu and Defense Minister Gallant, Blinken is expected to travel to surrounding Arab nations — but we’re yet to hear confirmation of this or whether Egypt will be on the list.

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

• Egypt asks IMF for more time to implement reforms: The Madbouly government has reportedly asked the International Monetary Fund for an extension on the timeline for the implementation of economic reforms that were agreed upon as part of our loan program.
• Beltone Holding subsidiary Beltone Leasing and Factoring has closed its first securitized bond issuance, raising some EGP 1.3 bn. The three-tranche issuance, with tenors ranging from 12-48 months, received ratings from AA+ to A from MERIS.
• Beltone Financial Holdings and CRIF got the FRA’s greenlight to launch a credit rating agency, meaning that MERIS will soon no longer be the country’s sole credit rating agency.

☀️ TOMORROW’S WEATHER- Mercury will continue to maintain the slight dip we saw yesterday, with a high of 30°C and a low of 19°C in the capital, according to our favorite weather app.

CORRECTION- In this morning’s edition of EnterpriseAM Egypt, we mistakenly said that Sawari Ventures’ upcoming Sawari Ventures Fund II has a size of USD 30 mn. The fund instead has a target size of USD 200 mn that it will invest over the next four to five years. The story has been amended on our website.