Good morning, everyone. A big-ticket green energy investment is once again the main story of the day, this time with a multi bn green ammonia project. And there may be plenty more renewables investments to come this week with the start of Egypt Energy, set to kick off in a few hours.

PSA-

WEATHER- It’s another cool day in Cairo today, with a high of 20°C and a low of 13°C, according to our favorite weather app.

It’s a little cooler still in Alexandria, with a high of 19°C, a low of 15°C, and a chance of showers.

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HAPPENING TODAY-

#1- This year’s Egypt Energy is kicking off today, and will run until Thursday. The event — promoted as North Africa’s largest energy gathering — will bring together local and international energy companies from the entire energy value chain from energy storage to transmission and renewable along with government officials from at home and the region. In addition to the 10k attendees and 180 exhibitors, 70 speakers are also booked to take part in the show’s conference.

#2- It’s day two of the World Investment Conference in Riyadh, with Investment Minister Hassan El Khatib in attendance to meet with a number of officials, business leaders, and company heads to push the case for investing in Egypt.

On day one of the conference, El Khatib met with his Saudi counterpart Khalid Al Falih, where the two ministers discussed the possibility of establishing joint investment projects in specific areas, according to a statement from the Investment Ministry. El Khatib emphasized the many advantages of investing in Egypt, including the availability of qualified labor and highly skilled engineers, competitive wages, advanced infrastructure, and energy availability, as well as its favorable trade agreements with countries around the world.

#3- It’s day two of the International Manufacturing Convention and Exhibition at Cairo’s Al Manara International Conference Center. The three-day Federation of Egyptian Industries-organized conference hosts local, regional, and international representatives from various manufacturing sectors.

HAPPENING TOMORROW-

Retail investors will soon get their chance to buy up a piece of United Bank in the offering’s retail placement set to begin tomorrow and run until 3 December. Retail investors will be able to pick up 5% of the offered up shares — totalling 16.5 mn shares — in the bank.

It looks like the bank’s private placement that wrapped yesterday was 6x oversubscribed, Al Mal reported just after the offering period came to a close. The placement offered up 95% of the offered shares — equivalent to 313.5 mn shares.

Remember: The total offering could see the bank raise up to EGP 5.1 bn by floating 330 mnof its shares — equivalent to a 30% stake.

HAPPENING NEXT WEEK-

This year’s Food Africa Expo is set to take place between 3-5 December, with the event set to take place at the Egypt International Exhibition Center. The three-day event will bring together wholesalers, distributors, and retailers in food and beverage industries from countries across the world. You can register on the event’s website.

DATA POINT-

Remittances from Egyptians working abroad more than doubled y-o-y in September to hit USD 2.7 bn, according to a statement (pdf) from the central bank. This brings total remittances during the first nine months of the year to USD 20.8 bn, up over 40% y-o-y from the USD 14.6 bn recorded during the same period last year.

It looks like the government should have an easy time hitting its remittances targets for the current fiscal year, with incoming funds surging 84.4% y-o-y to USD 8.3 bn during the first quarter of the fiscal year

Remember: Egyptians abroad have started sending more of their remittances through official channels after the float of the EGP put an end to the parallel market that had pushed remittance flows through unofficial channels. Remittances are an important source of FX for the country and the state is working to increase flows by 10% each year to reach USD 53 bn by 2030.

DEBT WATCH-

The CBE sold EGP 75.2 bn worth of t-bills with record average yields of 30.9% for three-month bills, 30.6% for six-month bills, 28.4% for nine-month bills, and 26.2% for year-long bills, according to data from the Central Bank of Egypt.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD-

Truce in Lebanon coming soon? Israel and Hezbollah are expected to clinch a ceasefire agreement “within days” following US and French-mediated negotiations, with the Israeli cabinet set to vote on an agreement later today. The agreement is likely to pass, officials say, particularly as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is “under pressure” from Washington to push through a ceasefire by the end of this week. The two sides made “significant progress” towards a pact despite some sticking points — including Israel looking to secure the right to strike southern Lebanon regardless of the ceasefire — and while Israel continued to hammer Beirut with more deadly attacks. (Reuters | New York Times | Bloomberg | Wall Street Journal)

ACROSS THE POND- The international press is also giving top billing to US president-elect Donald Trump’s vow to slap China, Mexico, and Canada with fresh tariffs once he’s in office. In two separate posts on his social media platform, Truth Social, Trump said he plans to impose an additional 25% tariff on goods coming in from Canada and Mexico and 10% for all imported Chinese goods as a punitive measure for illegal drug trading and immigration issues. (CNBC | Politico | Financial Times | WSJ | Reuters | Bloomberg | NYT)

*** It’s Going Green day — your weekly briefing of all things green in Egypt: Enterprise’s green economy vertical focuses each Tuesday on the business of renewable energy and sustainable practices in Egypt, everything from solar and wind energy through to water, waste management, sustainable building practices and how you can make your business greener, whatever the sector.

In today’s issue: We speak to Big Scrappers founder Moustafa El Kabbany to learn more about the company and its plans for the recycling sector.

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