FRA slashes review fees by 50% for all sustainable debt to spur stalled market

The Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA) is extending its 50% reduction on offering-review charges beyond green bonds to a wider range of sustainable securities, the Authority said in a statement. The reduction will apply to both public and private placements of sustainability, sustainability-linked, social, gender, climate, and transition bonds.

IN CONTEXT- Green bonds have had this administrative sweetener since 2018, yet cumulative green and sustainability-linked issuance in Egypt sits at just USD 1.45 bn. Bankers and sustainability experts we spoke to last month confirmed that the regulatory rulebook is not the issue. What is strangling the market is high borrowing costs, a currency that has made foreign-currency-denominated paper expensive, and a thin pipeline of issuance-ready projects. While halving the FRA’s review charges trims one small piece of the upfront transaction bill, it leaves these primary macroeconomic hurdles untouched.

Room to grow

Homegrown hotel chain Sunrise Resorts & Cruises is in final negotiations to secure EGP 8 bn (c. USD 156 mn) in syndicated bank loans from the National Bank of Egypt (NBE) and CIB to develop four hotels in Cairo and Marsa Alam, according to Chairman Hossam El Shaer. The resort operator is on track to launch five hotels this year, adding a combined 2k rooms across Makadi, Marsa Alam, and Sharm El Sheikh to capture recovering leisure demand. An additional five properties are scheduled to come online in 2027, featuring developments in Marsa Alam, Sharm El Sheikh, and Cairo.

REMEMBER- Sunrise said last November it planned to add 1.1k rooms in 2026. The new 2k-room target sits within its wider USD 700 mn plan to add 7k rooms by 2028, half of which was expected to be funded through bank facilities.

More bread in the oven

The company behind the Breadway brand, Dough & More Food Industries (Damfi), plans to invest USD 20 mn in a new bakery factory in 6th of October City, according to CEO Osama Aladl. The 5k sqm facility is expected to start operations within around 12 months, with a capacity of 60 tons per day, more than doubling Damfi’s total production capacity to around 100 tons per day.

Where the money comes from: The factory will be financed under a 50/50 debt-to-equity split between bank borrowing and shareholder contributions. Damfi also plans to inject another USD 5 mn to upgrade and replace equipment on its existing production lines. The baked goods maker is also studying an EGX listing as a potential future funding route for further expansion, though the CEO said that no final IPO decision has been made by the board.

REMEMBER- Damfi secured an EGP 480 mn leasing and factoring facility from Beltone in 2023, including EGP 380 mn earmarked for production equipment and assets and another EGP 100 mn for raw materials, inventory, and working capital.

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