CIB joins MNT-Halan’s IPO as a cornerstone investor

☀️ Good morning, friends, and happy long weekend. It’s been a shorter-than-usual week, yes, but plenty happened — we’ve got the full recap below.

With an extra day to spare, we decided to pay the movie theatres not one, but two visits: Verity, adapted from Colleen Hoover’s best-selling thriller novel, and Digger, Tom Cruise’s departure from his usual territory — two films that split critics and will probably split you too.

AND- This week’s edition of the Enterprise Guide rounds up the museums and destinations worth visiting to mark 6 October and understand what happened that day in 1973. We also have a steakhouse that traveled from Hurghada to set up in Madinaty, and a podcast on how best to navigate personal finances.

Without further ado, your weekly recap…

🗞️ LAST WEEK IN 3 MINS-

CAPITAL MARKETS-

Commercial International Bank (CIB) signed on as a cornerstone investor for up to EGP 2 bn worth of shares in MNT-Halan’s ongoing IPO, roughly a fifth of the 20% stake on offer if the Egyptian arm prices near the USD 1 bn valuation bankers were pitching in June.

Speaking of MNT-Halan’s IPO: Foreigners have spent the year selling Egyptian stocks, and MNT-Halan’s IPO is shaping up as one of the best chances in years to bring them back. We previously reported high interest across in-person and virtual roadshows in the UK, the GCC, the US, and beyond. MNT’s bankers were pitching investors on a valuation of up to USD 1 bn for the Egypt arm alone when they began testing the waters in June.

Why it matters: MNT is the first in a line of big offerings that includes the highly anticipated IPOs of Banque du Caire and Misr Life. Strong international demand could keep foreign investors in the market long enough to look at what comes next. Subscription opened on Wednesday.

MEANWHILE- Our friends at EFG Holding have three more EGX-bound IPOs up their sleeve this year, one of which Group CEO Karim Awad called “a massive game changer” for the bourse. In USD terms, the offering would probably rank among Egypt’s largest listings in the last 15-20 years.

M&A-

Al Ahly Capital is buying El Sewedy Capital Holding’s 40% stake, or 30 mn shares, in CIRA’s Damietta university venture. The transaction, which secured approval from the Egyptian Competition Authority earlier this week, will leave CIRA’s 60% stake untouched. It’s expected to close before year-end. The purchase price was not disclosed.

DEBT-

The Finance Ministry is studying an issuance with other government bodies as part of a push to pre-fund losses from severe natural disasters and climate shocks. The program comes after four years of global economic turbulence and climate risk landing on the budget.

NBFIs-

Orange Egypt is weighing whether to buy a consumer finance company, partner with one, or build its own. CEO Hisham Mahran calls consumer finance one of his priorities for the coming years, saying the company has everything it needs to become “one of the big players in consumer finance.” The push runs alongside a parallel one into IT services, where revenue has climbed to “close to 50% or more.”

BANKING-

The CBE’s anti-money laundering unit issued updated customer due diligence guidelines for banks operating in Egypt and their foreign branches. The updated framework formally incorporates new banking practices that have emerged since the 2020 amendments to the Anti-Money Laundering Act, including electronic know-your-customer (eKYC).

ENERGY-

The Egyptian Refining Company is piloting an AI agent that predicts equipment failures before they happen. The agent could help solve a big problem — every day its refinery is offline costs USD 5 mn in lost income. A restart takes seven days, so a single outage costs USD 35 mn.

TRADE-

Egypt’s push into Eastern Europe and the Balkans crystallized last week with the launch of the Arab-Balkans Corridor (ABC), a unified sea-rail-road trade route built by the private sector to link Egyptian ports with Southern and Eastern Europe. Under the new structure, cargo is collected at Egyptian gateways, primarily Port Said and Alexandria, transported by sea to Thessaloniki, Greece, and transferred to rail along Pan-European Corridor X through Sofia in Bulgaria and Niš in Serbia into broader Balkan and EU markets.

MNT-Halan’s IPO has been the talk of the market for a few weeks.

So on this episode of Making It, Mounir Nakhla, the founder and CEO of MNT-Halan, joins Patrick to talk about why his company is going public, and why now is the right time. He makes the case for returning FDIs, that the so-called Egypt-discount is over, and he tells us what it would take for this IPO to “pop.”

Listen to the episode on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Anghami | YouTube

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🌍 AROUND THE WORLD IN SEVEN DAYS-

This week’s headlines were dominated by the widening economic fallout of the US-Iran war — strategic oil reserves tapped, bombers recalled, global bond yields at their worst in decades, and the world’s largest oil company warning that supply resilience is “scarily thin.”

The US Air Force recalled its bombers from RAF Fairford — its launching pad for Iran strikes — following the suspected Iranian-linked terrorist plot against the base, with all aircraft redeployed to US home bases. G7 nations agreed to release 100 mn barrels of crude and diesel from strategic stockpiles over four months, after Trump threatened to ban US fuel exports ahead of November’s midterms.

Saudi Aramco CEO Amin Nasser warned at the Energy Intelligence Forum in London that global supply resilience is “scarily thin” and that it could take up to two years to rebuild inventories. Bond markets reflected the strain: the 10-year Treasury yield hit 5.34% and the 30-year climbed to 5.67% — both at their highest since 2002 — with European stocks falling alongside as government borrowing costs rose from the US to France to Japan.

IN UKRAINE- German Chancellor Merz arrived in Kyiv as a Russian drone struck the city’s North Bridge — injuring two people during his visit — before meeting President Zelenskyy and announcing EUR 1 bn in military aid, EUR 350 mn for energy infrastructure repairs, and a joint drone-production agreement. Merz said Ukraine is entering “decisive weeks.”

IN POLITICS- Brazil’s first-round presidential result defied the polls: right-wing candidate Flávio Bolsonaro surged ahead of incumbent President Lula da Silva, setting up a decisive runoff on 25 October alongside sweeping right-wing Senate and gubernatorial gains.

AND- Spain’s Prime Minister Sánchez called a snap election for 29 November — brought forward from 2027 — after parliament rejected two emergency housing measures, as nationwide protests over the country’s housing crisis continue.

IN THE AI WORLD- David Robinson, a former safety leader at OpenAI who oversaw safety reports for 12 frontier-model launches, quit the company citing a broken culture and arguing that AI firms are not moving carefully enough — calling for safeguards closer to those in aviation and nuclear power. The White House separately launched the Super Intelligence Force, a new task force led by Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton to assess AI risks and recommend a federal oversight role.

The Gulf’s sovereign funds and largest companies are committing bns to AI infrastructure at home and to AI companies in the US and beyond. EnterpriseAM AI + Innovation reports on where that capital goes, who controls it, and what it is actually buying.

Every Tuesday and Thursday, we also cover the startups and established firms across MENA putting AI to work, and how it is changing jobs, education, and the way business runs.

It’s sharp, analytical, and skeptical journalism that ignores hype and is laser-focused on informing our readers, not pleasing our sources.

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☀️ THE WEATHER THIS WEEKEND-

The breezy weather streak continues this weekend, with today’s temperatures peaking at 31°C before dropping to a breezy 21°C overnight. Friday is set to be plenty sunny, bringing a high of 30°C and a clear low of 20°C. Saturday brings similar temperatures, with a partly sunny high of 30°C and a partly cloudy low of 21°C, according to our favorite weather app.

🎤 HAPPENING THIS WEEKEND-

Up for a quick one-and-a-half-hour drive from Cairo? Lebanese pop icon Ragheb Alama is heading to Porto Sokhna today for a special live performance by the Dolphin Pool. The concert kicks off at 7pm — you can get your tickets on TicketsMarché.

Up for a night of Hamid El Shaeri classics — with some sushi on the side? El Capo is heading to The Village in Sheikh Zayed tonight for a live set of his beloved hits. The concert starts at 10pm, with tickets available through TicketsMarché — and table tickets come with a full sushi platter.

Venture Lifestyle’s first-ever multi-day electronic music festival, Starlight Festival, is making The Great Pyramids of Giza its stage, running from today until Sunday, 11 October. In partnership with Visa, the festival brings 50+ international musical artists — including DJ duo Adriatique, global headliner Charlotte de Witte, Brazilian DJ Vintage Culture, and more — to perform across three-plus stages for a unique experience that blends ancient history and futuristic production.

The opening and closing days, 8 and 11 October, will feature welcome and after-parties, while the three main festival days in between will kick off at 5pm. Tickets are selling fast — grab yours on TicketEgypt before they run out.

🎤 HAPPENING NEXT WEEKEND-

Downtown Cairo gets a contemporary art makeover by Art D’Égypte. Cairo International Art District is returning for its sixth edition from Sunday, 11 October to Sunday, 8 November, bringing fresh creative perspectives to the heart of the city by the same art cultivators behind Forever is Now. Spread across The Factory, Kodak Passage, and Access Art Space, the month-long program will blur the lines between contemporary art and Cairo’s rich architectural heritage.

Caught between “Narein”? Tul8te knows a thing or two about that. On Friday, 16 October, the beloved masked Egyptian singer — hailed as this generation’s Amr Diab — will be taking the stage at Al Manara Arena to perform his biggest hits and late-summer releases. If you haven’t had the chance to see him live yet, consider this a sign. Tickets are available on TicketsMarché.

Due for some family quality time? The Grand Egyptian Museum is back with another GEM Family Weekend on Friday, 16 October and Saturday, 17 October for a weekend celebrating Egypt’s living heritage. This edition brings a packed weekend of fun, from ancient Egyptian-inspired pottery, jewelry, and crafts workshops to El Aragoz hand puppetry shows, a special interactive play, sing-alongs, baladi bread baking, a spread of Egyptian street food, and much more. The event runs from 11am to 8pm — you can get tickets for you and your family through TicketsMarché.

The real coffee enthusiasts among us know that coffee isn’t just a morning caffeine fix; it’s a complete experience. The Egypt Coffee Festival is bringing that experience to life again this year at Kamelizer in District 5, returning for a two-day run on Friday, 16 October and Saturday, 17 October.

This year’s theme, Common Grounds, serves up the endless ways coffee can bring us together, from the maker-dedicated Roaster Village, featuring brands like Mestilla, La Cimbali, and Brown Nose, to workshops, talks, tasting experiences, and a design competition in collaboration with SYNC. The experience starts at 9am and ends at 8pm — you can grab your tickets on TicketsMarché. Workshops and masterclasses require pre-registration, so keep an eye on their Instagram for details and updates. Stay tuned to EnterprisePM for more on this year’s edition.