BdC ends first week on the EGX up 5.5%

Here are the stories driving the day, both at home and abroad. Banque du Caire (BdC) ended its first week on the EGX up 5.5% from its EGP 5.30 offer price. The lender closed Monday at EGP 5.59 a share, according to market data. Turnover settled at around EGP 250 mn a session since the debut-day spike, 13% of what traded on 2 November, by our math.

Thin volume matters more than the price here. Institutions covered the private placement 5.95x — 19.79x excluding cornerstones — leaving plenty of funds that wanted stock at EGP 5.30 and didn’t get it. The state still has 55% of BdC to sell, and the stock’s first week dictates the pitch for every offering that follows.

The Niat and Rasgha wind projects at Ras Ghareb have reached financial close, with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the European Investment Bank (EIB), and German Investment Corporation (DEG) each providing a third of a USD 436 mn debt package (around USD 145.3 mn apiece, by our math), projects developer Alcazar Energy Partners said in a statement. The two 250 MW farms cost USD 626 mn combined and are due to start commercial operation by the end of 2028.

^^We’ll have more on these stories in tomorrow’s edition of EnterpriseAM.

☀️ TOMORROW’S WEATHER- Looks like winter is slowly approaching the capital as highs reach a breezy 25°C tomorrow before dropping to a chilly 15°C low overnight, according to our favorite weather app.

MAKING HEADLINES ABROAD-

Getting plenty of ink this afternoon are plans for US President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani to meet later today in Washington to discuss efforts to end the war with Iran. Coming off Republicans’ poor midterm performance, Trump struck an optimistic note and said renewed US strikes are “highly unlikely.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio, however, was less upbeat, calling Iran’s negotiating demands “outrageous and ridiculous” and saying progress in peace talks remains slow.

IN OTHER NEWS- The EU has sued US enterprise tech provider IBM, French IT group Atos, and Italian defense contractor Leonardo over repeated delays in developing its new border-management system. EU-Lisa, the agency responsible for the bloc’s IT systems, filed the suit after a summer of widespread airport disruption, missed project deadlines, and disputes over warnings and fines.

MEANWHILE- As the Nvidia-China espionage scandal continues to dominate headlines, the tech giant’s shares fell nearly 5% in premarket trading today amid an internal company investigation into CEO Jensen Huang’s affair with a Chinese businesswoman reportedly linked to a foreign espionage operation.