Here’s what we’re tracking today
Banque du Caire’s IPO grows to 45% as the EBRD and IFC sign on
Dekheila hub MoU | Scatec scales up | Vaccine city opens Phase 1
Sunday, 25 October 2026
More, more, more
Today's big story: Banque du Caire’s IPO has expanded to sell a 45% stake — up from 30% — after securing regulatory approval to offer 6.86 bn shares. Backed by two major global development lenders, the offering is now on track to price at the top of its range.

Today at a Glance
Making It
Investment Watch
M&A Watch
Explore EnterpriseAM for your industry
A close look at key activities driving headlines across industries
Privatization Watch
EBRD, IFC sign on to Banque du Caire’s upsized IPO
The state’s biggest sale in years has grown to 45%…
Gov’t pushes to close out its IMF program before December, with a final review due in late November
Divestments are our strongest card going in, while energy subsidies and a stalled free zone tax are the sticking points
Newsmakers
Coffee with Jon Rokk on Valmore’s hard-currency turn
Rokk talks to us about funding UK and Saudi expansion with Egyptian exits and what three uninterrupted months of gas supply…
My Morning Routine
EGX bags two AFCM awards for 2025 trading activity
The bourse was recognized for having the highest average daily traded value and trading volume among Arab exchanges…
Spotlight
Regulation
Legislation Watch
Parliament moves to shield healthcare and research from nuclear fee hikes
Amendments create a clearer distinction between commercial nuclear ventures and…
Regulation Watch
FRA issues model short-selling contract, with launch weeks away
Contract wording is settled; the launch now waits on the…
Cabinet Watch
Garghoub is now a Special Economic Zone — here is what that means for investors
Plus: A major overhaul at GOEIC to slash customs times
Ittihadiya
Sisi inaugurates Octagon, unveils comprehensive economic program
El Sisi gave us a glimpse into Egypt’s post-IMF future
Startup Watch
MENA startups set a mega-round record in 3Q as the early-stage deal base thinned 45%
Three Gulf fintech rounds carried the quarter
Meet our Founder of the Month: Olimi AI’s Shaden El Olimi
🤖 OUR FOUNDER OF THE MONTH — Every month, Founder of the Month looks…
Meet Egyptian 3D concrete printing company Layn’s Zeyad Zein
🏗️ OUR FOUNDER OF THE MONTH — Every month, Founder of the Month looks…
Industries
Banking
EGP weakens against USD — plus, four foreign funds commit USD 256 mn to Banque du Caire IPO
At home, the USD jumped to EGP 55 for the…
Finance
IMF sees GCC’s non-oil economy shrinking 0.8% this year as war spreads beyond oil
The IMF expects a 9.1% rebound in the overall economy…
Capital Markets
A dozen companies have moved up from the SME board, and analysts say investors should look at how capital is being raised
Companies can apply to move to the main board above…
Fintech
How Balad connects global remittances to home
The Cairo-based fintech provides the infrastructure connecting international remittance companies…
Climate
EBRD takes 40% of Scatec’s new Egypt renewables platform
The up to USD 221 mn commitment buys into four…
Automotive
August auto sales slow to 5.6% as trucks stall and imports pull ahead
Passenger cars carried the month while trucks fell and imported…
Commodities
Wheat dodged Hormuz, but summer crops face the input crunch
Analysts agree this season’s wheat is secure, but differ on…
Tech
Deloitte adds USD 40 mn to its Cairo innovation hub, completing a USD 110 mn plan
Plus: Egypt signs agreement to host World Economic Forum’s dedicated…
Energy
Oil Ministry targets 14 Mediterranean exploration wells with up to 12 tcf of potential gas reserves
The drilling push comes as a new seismic survey gets…
Infrastructure
Egyptian contractors eye Jordan’s grid upgrade as Cairo and Amman plan to quadruple their power link
A USD 45 mn Aqaba substation is first in line,…
Manufacturing
Egypt is building the transition's equipment from the outside in
Egypt is climbing the manufacturing ladder — wafers, cells, battery…
Mining
Consumer lenders can no longer finance gold, and analysts weigh what that says about how Egyptians save
Analysts say borrowing to buy gold turns a hedge into…
Thursday, 22 October 2026
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.
We arrive late in your inboxes due to a jam-packed Headlines section this afternoon as we send you off into the weekend. The USD crossed the EGP 55 threshold today, as the need for USD to cover foreign outflows pushed the rate to a record high. We speak to two analysts below to unpack what happened and what might come next.
In our Made in Egypt series, we unpack how multi-brand showrooms are giving Instagram-born brands their first real shelf space. Locally and Go Native walk us through how they’ve set up shop in Cairo’s biggest malls without paying for the real estate and why they’re working on making sure Zara and H&M shopping habits don’t make a comeback.
Elsewhere in the issue: We review Brothers, a bite-sized comedy series starring two of Hollywood’s most beloved faces, and highlight a roundup of the matches worth planning your weekend around.

Today at a Glance
Friday, 23 October 2026
Good morning, lovely people, and welcome to the new Weekend
For years, the Weekend Edition has been shaped as reflective, a single source readers can enjoy when the work week is behind them. That goal remains intact, but we’ve rebuilt the edition around it, and starting today, the Weekend arrives with a sharper sense of who it’s for.
We’ve spent the past few months asking a simple question: what does a weekend read owe someone who runs things? The answer wasn’t more to read through — it was “do less,” but choose more deliberately and go deeper. So the Weekend is moving away from one weekly guide toward a rotating monthly format built around four anchors, each with its own job.

