HOSPITALITY-

Qatar’s Retaj Hotels and Hospitality Group will manage a EGP 2 bn hotel in the new capital’s Jeval Business Complex, company officials announced in a press conference attended by EnterpriseAM. The agreement to run the 66-key hotel was signed with Egypt’s Wealth Holding Developments.

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You might not have heard about Retaj before, but they’re set to become an important hospitality player in the country soon, with six hotels in Egypt currently under construction. The first of these is set to open in early 2026, followed by its second later in the year, as the company works to build a stock of 3k hotel rooms by 2030, according to Group Chairman Sheikh Nayef bin Eid Al Thani.

Looking ahead, the company will increasingly look beyond the new capital and New Cairo to Sharm El Sheikh, Ain Sokhna, New Alamein, and Aswan, Al Thani said.

M&A WATCH-

A suitor for Ascom’s Glassrock? An unnamed foreign investor is interested in fully acquiring Qalaa Holdings’s mining arm Ascom ’s Glassrock Insulation, Ascom said in a disclosure (pdf) to the EGX. Ascom gave the investor the green light to conduct its due diligence on the company.

ENERGY-

Energy giant BP plans to drill a second USD 150 mn gas well in its North King Mariout offshore concession in early 2026, Asharq Business reports, citing an unnamed government official. The second well should enable the company to accurately assess the stock of recoverable gas ahead of starting production in 2Q 2026.

FINTECH-

Orange Egypt opened up gold trading to its mobile wallet users, allowing customers to buy and sell the precious metal through mobile wallets for the first time in Egypt, the telecoms operator said in a statement. The digital platform was made in partnership with Evolve Investment Holding’s online precious-metals trading subsidiary mnGm.

PHARMA-

State-owned medical city complex Gypto Pharma will begin exporting to the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait by the end of 2026, CEO Amr Mamdouh told Asharq Business. Gypto Pharma and the US’s Dawah Pharma are also planning to invest USD 200 mn over three phases within 18-24 months, with the aim of exporting biological meds exclusively to the US, Dawah Pharma’s CEO Hossam Abdel Maksoud told the outlet. US-bound exports are expected to come in at USD 800 mn-1.2 bn in the first year and rise to some USD 8 bn within three years.

AUTOMOTIVE-

South Korea will help train Egyptian car mechanics to work on EVs, hybrids, and CNG-powered vehicles under an MoU signed between the Planning and International Cooperation Ministry and the Korean Embassy, according to a statement. The project will be supported by a USD 10 mn grant from the Korea International Cooperation Agency, which will go toward developing a curriculum and upgrading equipment at four car maintenance training centers under the Industry Ministry’s Productivity and Vocational Training Department.

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