EAEF continues Fawry exit as its congressional mandate nears its end

The Egyptian-American Enterprise Fund (EAEF) dipped just below the 3% threshold in Fawry, selling some 224.8k shares for EGP 4.31 mn, according to a bourse disclosure (pdf) filed last Wednesday. Our friends at EFG Hermes International Securities Brokerage handled the sale at an average of EGP 19.197 per share. The fund seems to be in harvesting mode, monetizing holdings to maximize returns before its congressional mandate ends almost two years from now.

The Fawry timeline: EAEF invested around USD 26.4 mn into the company in 2015 as part of a consortium that bought a USD 100 mn stake, according to the fund’s 2024-2025 annual report (pdf). The fund’s initial share was reportedly around 20%. After Fawry’s 2019 IPO, EAEF sold a partial stake. Its holdings stood at 9.7% by mid-2021, then were trimmed to 8.74% that August in a USD 80 mn secondary offering that returned around USD 17 mn. In January, EAEF Chairman James Harmon wrote to Congress (pdf) that the fund halved its remaining position (meaning to around 4.43%) and cleared over USD 46 mn in proceeds. In total, EAEF has extracted USD 93.2 mn in realized proceeds from Fawry against its original USD 26.4 mn outlay.

The rest of EAEF’s portfolio leans into healthcare (Al-Tayseer Healthcare Group, Dawi Clinics, and SMART Medical Services), with Hassan Allam Utilities, Misr Hytech, and Nermien Ismail Schools rounding out the direct holdings. The fund also has LP positions in Algebra Ventures, Lorax Capital Partners, Ezdehar Management, Flat6Labs Cairo, Foundation Ventures, Tanmiya Capital Ventures, and East Lane Partners.

CI Capital’s industrial fund

The government is planning to launch an industrial investment fund with CI Capital within two weeks, with an initial value of up to EGP 1 bn, Asharq Business reports, citing Industry Minister Khaled Hashem. The vehicle will provide financing to factories, while the Sovereign Fund of Egypt’s (SFE) industrial sub-fund will participate in new private-sector investment vehicles aimed at supporting industry.

CI Capital and Cairo Capital will be the first two managers out of the gate, with another four industrial investment funds currently being prepared, Hashem said. He did not disclose the size or launch timeline of the Cairo Capital vehicle or give details on the other four funds.

REMEMBER- We first got details on the CI Capital and Cairo Capital vehicles in June, when they were targeting a combined EGP 5 bn and the SFE was expected to take a 10-20% stake in each. Today’s EGP 1 bn figure is an initial value for the CI Capital fund alone, so it is not directly comparable with that earlier combined target. The vehicles form part of a broader push to bring private capital into industrial financing alongside traditional bank lending.

Capital, cargo, and carbon

EgyptAir’s ground services and medical services subsidiaries just got a lot more capital to work with. The Civil Aviation Ministry raised the authorized capital for EgyptAir Ground Services to EGP 1.5 bn from EGP 400 mn, with paid-in capital rising to EGP 655.4 mn from EGP 381.4 mn. EgyptAir Medical Services, meanwhile, saw its authorized capital rise to EGP 300 mn from EGP 200 mn, with paid-in capital up to EGP 182.4 mn from EGP 123.4 mn, Al Borsa reports.

More on our local carriers from El Alamein International Airshow:

• EgyptAir has formalized plans to launch direct Cairo-Birmingham flights from 25 October, with four weekly trips. Birmingham Airport first announced the service in June.
• EgyptAir Holding signed a CO2 Connect agreement with the International Air Transport Association (IATA) to measure and disclose per-flight carbon emissions on passenger tickets, linking the data to its Amadeus booking system.
• EgyptAir Ground Services signed handling agreements with Rafale Aviation Handling to target scheduled and private carriers from the Far East, Europe, and Russia, and with AuriJet Aviation Services to target cargo, charter, and private flights from the Middle East, Turkey, and the CIS.
• Air Cairo completed its first-ever direct purchase from Airbus — an order for 15 A320neos — as part of a plan to more than triple its fleet from around 45 aircraft today to over 130 by 2034.
• Air Cairo has selected CFM International’s LEAP-1A engines for its new Airbus A320neo fleet. The agreement covers 30 A320neos plus eight spare engines — a package that could push Air Cairo’s LEAP-1A count past 120 once combined with the engines already in the fleet.

Riding the rails to 2027

The Transport Ministry is eyeing a 2027 international tender to select a contractor for electromechanical works, rail systems, and train supply for Phase 2 of Cairo Metro’s Line 4 — a USD 4.5 bn segment covering 26.9 km and 21 stations from Fustat to New Cairo, Asharq Business reports, citing three people familiar with the matter. The same five Egyptian firms building Phase 1 (Arab Contractors, Orascom Construction, Petrojet, Hassan Allam, and Concord) are also handling Phase 2. A Mitsubishi-Orascom Construction consortium is supplying Phase 1’s 23 trains and electromechanical systems. Together, the two metro segments are projected to carry up to 2 mn riders daily. The timeline for building Phase 2 is roughly eight years.

Nordic soil, Egyptian roots

Berry producer AgriVenture is partnering with Finnish company Kekkilä-BVB to build a growing-media factory in the Suez Canal Economic Zone, according to an Industry Ministry statement. The plant would produce the substrates used in precision farming — for crops like blueberries and mushrooms — locally, cutting into an import bill that currently makes up roughly 30% of precision agriculture’s costs. The output would also serve land-reclamation projects that need to treat desert soil for farming.

More on our radar:

• Egypt and Sudan are advancing preparations for the 300 MW second phase of their Toshka 2-Wadi Halfa electricity interconnection project, with both sides moving to install the required equipment and train Sudanese teams to carry out the remaining work. (Statement)
• Ten consortia applied to manage, operate, and develop Hurghada International Airport, and seven have made the cut. The next step is to put forward request-for-proposal documents to those on the shortlist. (Statement)