Egypt + World Bank build a USD 520 mn private infrastructure financing vehicle

Good morning, folks. One common theme this morning: the market thinks a rate cut is coming and everyone is positioning for it.

On the banking front, our top story looks at the deposit race pushing certificate yields past 20% even after the CBE held for a third straight meeting. Call it a liquidity squeeze, a defensive move, or a rebalancing — our sources disagree — but the logic is the same: lock in funding now, before the cuts begin.

On the Treasury front, it’s much the same. Its first-ever floating-rate notes carry a yield that tracks the CBE corridor instead of locking in like a conventional T-bill.

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The EnterpriseAM Egypt Forum is back — and this year, we’re giving the full day to the one question on every business leader's mind: What does AI actually mean for your company, your people, and your own job?

Leaders in New York, London, Abu Dhabi, and Singapore are asking the same things, and nobody has built a playbook that works yet. We're all figuring it out in real time — and for Egypt, the stakes are unusually high.

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Every session on stage answers one question: “So, what do I actually do about it?”

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A guarantor for guarantees

Egypt is working with the World Bank on a USD 520 mn facility to guarantee private financing for infrastructure — and energy and water projects are first in line. Electricity Minister Mahmoud Esmat met a World Bank delegation this week to advance the vehicle, which would issue payment, debt-service, and contract-termination guarantees to draw private investors to projects that now lean on state backing, according to a ministry statement and a document seen by Al Arabiya.

The details: The facility would be set up as a commercially run, non-bank special-purpose company, with the World Bank putting in USD 150 mn of the USD 520 mn total. Its first phase would cover renewable energy, electricity transmission, desalination, wastewater treatment, and waste-to-energy projects. The goal, per Al Arabiya, is to crowd in commercial banks, institutional investors, development finance institutions, and Gulf capital to tackle Egypt’s infrastructure-financing gaps: scarce long-term local-currency funding, high financing costs, and tightening limits on sovereign guarantees.

The bigger guarantee shift: The facility is likely designed to cut Egypt’s reliance on sovereign guarantees — the same pivot we’ve been tracking since the Finance Ministry moved to cap contingent liabilities. We reported last month that the OECD is pushing Egypt to end blanket sovereign guarantees in favor of project-specific risk assessments, with FinMin cutting its guarantee ceiling for the coming fiscal year to EGP 560 bn from EGP 740 bn. Weeks earlier, the government had to funnel EGP 452 bn in overdue payments and guarantees to EGPC alone to unblock an IMF review — with the Fund noting the company’s sovereign guarantees stood at 18% of GDP. A standalone vehicle that moves that risk off the sovereign balance sheet is the logical next step.

Uber ate

Meet Talabat’s new (ultimate) corporate parent: Uber. The California-based ride-hailing and delivery company agreed to buy Talabat’s Berlin-based parent, Delivery Hero, for EUR 41.50 a share in bonknotes — its largest acquisition ever, the companies said. The offer values Delivery Hero’s equity at USD 14.8 bn for 100% of the company, or USD 13.7 bn net of Uber’s existing stake. Backed by Uber’s current 24.77% holding and an irrevocable commitment from fellow shareholder Prosus (17%) to tender its shares, the bid would lift Uber’s economic interest to roughly 53% — and is expected to close in 2H 2027, subject to regulatory approvals.

There’s a neat symmetry to it: The transaction brings Uber back to Egypt’s food-delivery market — as an owner this time, not an operator — six years after it pulled the plug on Uber Eats here. The market it walked away from in 2020 was led by Otlob, the homegrown pioneer Delivery Hero had just scooped up and rebranded as Talabat. Uber left — now it’s buying the company that inherited the market it left behind.

Nothing changes in our part of the world. Delivery Hero will keep its 80% stake in DFM-listed Talabat through its MENA subsidiary regardless of how the bid plays out, Talabat said in a bourse filing (pdf). The 20% freefloat is untouched, and the company says its operations, strategy, leadership, and listing all stay put. Talabat also sits among the 50 markets Uber is acquiring — not the 14 that Delivery Hero is separately selling to New York’s SSW Partners — so the Gulf and Egypt businesses ride along with the new parent.

Cleared for testing

The government will start piloting its QR-code e-visa system in August, according to a Cabinet statement. Airport staff are being trained to run the system, and the government wants to widen the list of nationalities eligible for e-visas and visas on arrival — with African countries flagged as a priority — while shortening processing times.

REMEMBER- We first reported in May that Cairo International Airport would be the starting point with travelers applying up to 48 hours before arrival, paying online, and scanning a QR code at the airport, before a gradual rollout to other airports. The updated statement doesn’t confirm where the pilot will run or when a wider launch might follow.

Why it matters: Faster entry could strip out one of the first points of friction for visitors as Egypt chases its target of 30 mn tourists a year by 2030 — up from the 18.8 mn it drew in 2025.

PSA-

WEATHER- It’s another hot day in Cairo, with the capital in for a high of 38°C and a low of 27°C, according to our favorite weather app.

It’s a few degrees cooler in Alexandria, with a high of 34°C and a low of 24°C.

The big story abroad

International dailies have their hands full with geopolitical and business updates today, leading with blow-by-blow coverage of the regional war.

Yesterday marked the US’ 10th consecutive night of strikes on Iran, as US forces targeted the country’s capability to disrupt shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, the US Central Command said. US President Donald Trump vowed that Iran would “pay” for killing US soldiers last weekend in Jordan and Iraq.

Andy Burnham became Britain’s seventh prime minister in 10 years, succeeding his Labor Party predecessor Keir Starmer. The former mayor of Manchester pledged to restore the stability previous PMs failed to deliver, promising immediate actions followed by a long-term economic plan later this year to boost living standards.

Is Trump’s trade war back? Washington is set to slap Canada with a 50% tariff on a wide range of goods, as senior Trump administration officials claim that Canadian provinces paused purchases of US alcohol and introduced tariffs on US automobiles. The new levy takes effect in 30 days, exempting energy, potash, critical minerals, and goods already subject to US national security duties.

Anthropic settles in copyright suit over Claude training: A US federal court approved Anthropic’s USD 1.5 bn settlement in a class action lawsuit by authors who accused the AI startup of using their books to train Claude. The case — the largest settlement in a US copyright case — is among dozens of copyright suits brought against tech companies over their LLM training models.

*** It’s Going Green day — your weekly briefing of all things green in Egypt: EnterpriseAM’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: A decade ago, rooftop farming was pitched as a household food-security fix for Cairo. What survived is a commercial hydroponics business selling to restaurants and retailers.