The headlines from this morning

Missed this morning’s edition of EnterpriseAM? Here are the top stories in a nutshell.

• The House of Representatives authorized President Abdel Fattah El Sisi to take “the necessary measures” to support Saudi Arabia in defending its territory, sovereignty, and holy sites against “any external aggression.” MPs passed the mandate by a two-thirds majority of members after three closed sessions on 18, 19, and 26 October, which the House held at the president’s request in line with what the National Defense Council agreed upon on 18 October;
• Banque du Caire priced its IPO at the top of its range after institutional demand held up through Thursday’s EGX selloff. The state-owned lender set its price at EGP 5.30 a share after institutions covered the private placement 6x over, or 19.8x excluding the anchor investors. Private-placement orders reached EGP 205.8 bn (c. USD 3.72 bn), the most any EGX IPO private tranche has drawn. At EGP 34.55 bn (c. USD 625 mn), the private tranche is also the largest in the EGX’s IPO history, with both records measured in EGP terms;
• Enppi eyes a January IPO, priced in USD: The government is aiming to launch the IPO of state-owned petroleum engineering contractor Enppi in the second half of January, with the offering priced in USD, a government official tells EnterpriseAM. The state will likely sell 10-20% of the company, leaving EGPC, which holds 96.61%, with roughly 77-87%. Work on the fair value study has been accelerated, and the USD price range will be set once it’s done;
• DPI Venture Capital reached a final close on the Nclude Fund at more than USD 112 mn, four years after the fund launched in Cairo as a dedicated Egyptian fintech play. Nclude stood at USD 105 mn after its second close in 2022, the size it was still running at when Development Partners International (DPI) took over its management last year. That makes the final close a net gain of some USD 7 mn.