Half of BdC’s proceeds to the treasury

At home, capital markets and industrial milestones carried the week while the regional war and a weeks-long EGX sell-off sat in the background. Global headlines were dominated by America’s midterm elections, a wave of youth-led protests across Europe, and growing unease over who gets hurt if the AI wager sours. Here’s the rundown.

CAPITAL MARKETS-

The treasury will take up to half of the EGP 36.37 bn (c. USD 658 mn) raised in Banque du Caire’s (BdC) IPO and put it toward easing public debt pressures. That’s as much as c. EGP 18.2 bn (c. USD 329 mn). The proceeds from the offering will first go to Banque Misr, the owner of BdC, and then the Finance Ministry will handle the settlement. The state-backed lender closed up 0.19% on debut, following a blockbuster IPO that drew strong demand from foreign institutional and retail investors despite an ongoing regional war and a weeks-long EGX selloff.

MEANWHILE- The EGX30 closed October down 4.43% at 49.6k points, its second losing month in a row and the first time the benchmark has strung two together this year. The benchmark closed March, June, and September in the red. The index opened at 51.9k, touched 54.1k, and bottomed at 47.9k — an 11.4% peak-to-trough swing inside four weeks, by our math. The only index on the board to finish green was the EGX T-Bonds, up 0.88% to 2.7k. And only one sector held the line: food, beverages, and tobacco finished up 0.2%, making it the sole gainer out of 18.

ECONOMY-

The country’s non-oil private sector stayed in contraction in October, with output and new orders falling at their fastest in four months. The S&P Global Egypt PMI held at 47.2, unchanged from September — a 10th month below the 50.0 no-change mark and below the survey’s long-run average of 48.2 — while employment returned to decline and business confidence slipped to a seven-month low.

DEBT-

The government borrowed about EGP 4.3 tn from the domestic market in the first four months of FY 2026/27, funding the year almost entirely at home. The monthly split runs EGP 967 bn in July, EGP 969 bn in August, EGP 1.3 tn in September, and EGP 1.08 tn in October. Almost all of it is refinancing rather than new money. The ministry issues mostly short paper: bills made up 85% of accepted domestic issuance in the last quarter, for which it has published an issuance breakdown, against 15% for bonds.

ENERGY-

Petrojet will build the pipeline carrying Cypriot gas to Damietta: State-owned contractor Petrojet was awarded a USD 170 mn contract for an onshore gas pipeline connecting to the Damietta LNG export terminal. The line is part of the export route for Cyprus’ offshore Cronos field, which Eni — the project operator — says will restart the Damietta LNG plant and restore structural LNG exports from Egypt.

INVESTMENT-

Money market funds added roughly 4x as much in assets as equity funds in 1Q 2026 (EGP 55.2 bn against EGP 12.8 bn), by our math. That lead narrowed to about 1.6x in 2Q against the equity and Islamic equity lines (EGP 24.8 bn against EGP 15.3 bn) and reversed in 3Q. Still, the funds, which invest primarily in T-bills, short-term deposits, and certificates of deposit (CDs), held some EGP 303.1 bn by the end of September, or 60% of an industry that crossed half a tn to hit EGP 504.71 bn.

REAL ESTATE-

The Tahya Misr Fund reportedly plans to partner with private developer The Marq Communities to revive a stalled 900-feddan North Coast development targeting over EGP 150 bn in revenues. The project site, valued at c. EGP 6 bn, has reportedly been tangled in delivery delays dating back to 2016.

TRADE-

Egyptian granular urea is fetching about USD 535 a ton FOB in November contracts, up roughly 17% from about USD 457 in September. That makes Egypt the priciest origin of comparable regions, ahead of China, the rest of the Middle East, Nigeria, and Algeria. This price rally comes just as the government starts rationing the gas the plants run on: Kima told the EGX that its supplies were cut by 20% from noon on Sunday 1 November and that it has implemented the cut, with its urea plant still running normally.

MAJOR HEADLINES THIS WEEK-

Democrats swept the midterms, flipping Republican seats in traditionally conservative states and making gains in governors’ races. The results reflect voter anger over the cost of living and President Donald Trump’s handling of the Iran war.

Two Egyptian-Americans made history: Abdul El-Sayed won Michigan’s Senate race to become the first Muslim elected to the US Senate, and Adam Hamawy took New Jersey’s 12th District, making him the state’s first Muslim member of Congress. Texas elected Democrat Gina Hinojosa, its first Democratic governor since 1990, while Georgia’s Keisha Lance Bottoms became the first Black woman to lead a US state. Trump said he was willing to work with Democrats, but rejected the idea that the losses reflected on him, claiming Republicans would have won in a landslide had he been on the ballot.

MEANWHILE- Markets priced in the result. The USD fell to a one-month low against the EUR, GBP, JPY, and CHF as investors moved into Treasuries, pushing the 10-year yield down 4.7 basis points to 4.9% and the two-year down 3.7 basis points to 4.6%. Gold futures rose 2.8% to above USD 4k per troy ounce, with silver up 4.7% to USD 52.11, and platinum up 2.4% to USD 1.5k.

IN EUROPE- Protests continued in Germany, France, Spain, and Italy over the weekend, driven by living costs and poor public services. The worst violence hit Frankfurt, where tens of thousands marched under the banner “Gen Z regelt.” Masked rioters damaged 17 shops and looted five, and more than 100 police officers were injured. German ministers vowed harsh punishment.

MEANWHILE- Germany warned that spyware may have compromised the iPhones of government officials and lawmakers through a “zero-click” flaw. The Federal Office for Information Security told anyone who recently received an Apple security alert to treat their phone as unsafe. Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s spokesman declined to say whether Merz was a target. Separately, hackers raised fridge and freezer temperatures at supermarkets in eight European countries on Monday, forcing stores to throw out food. A similar attack hit dozens of French stores three weeks ago.

IN UKRAINE- Overnight Russian strikes hit energy facilities in four regions and cut power to hundreds of thousands of homes, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. Power was partly restored on Sunday as a rare humanitarian ceasefire in Kherson, which allowed civilians to leave Russian-held Oleshky, came to an end.

IN THE BUSINESS PRESS- Binance said it has replaced 90% of the funds stolen in a record USD 6.3 bn hack, using company money to buy new tokens. The FBI has blamed North Korea. Investors are hedging against an AI downturn: credit-default swaps on Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft, Meta, and Oracle hit their highest level since 2021. And Nvidia told data center partners they must sell at least 51% of their cloud services to non-Chinese customers under new contracts.