Author Archives: enterpriseam admin

** #1 EXCLUSIVE- In their own words: Maait, Kouchouk discuss debt control, tax reform, bonds with investors. We had exclusive access yesterday to an EFG Hermes investor call during which Finance Minister Mohamed Maait and Vice Minister of Finance Ahmed Kouchouk spoke on everything from debt control to tax reform and bond issuances. The two […]

** #4 EXCLUSIVE- IPO WATCH- Zulficar & Partners tapped as legal counsel on Eastern sale: Zulficar & Partners has been chosen to act as legal counsel to Eastern Company on the sale of a 4.5% stake in the state-owned tobacco maker, a source close to the transaction told Enterprise on Wednesday. The letter of engagement […]

** #5 M&A WATCH- SIDPEC looking to acquire local petrochemicals company: Sidi Kerir Petrochemicals’ (SIDPEC) is looking into potentially acquiring another Egyptian petrochemicals company, it said in a statement to the EGX (pdf). The statement provided no further detail on the transaction.

** #6 Four global investment firms are looking to finance Egypt and Cyprus’ USD 1 bn underwater gas pipeline, commercial affairs head at the Cypriot embassy in Israel, Sofronis Papageorgiou, tells Bloomberg. The four firms, whose names Papageorgiou declined to disclose, have requested a progress update from the Cypriot government on the Aphrodite natural gas […]

LEGISLATION WATCH- Council of State review paves way for changes to rules on margin trading, futures exchanges, more: The Council of State (Maglis El Dawla) has completed its review of proposed amendments to the executive regulations for the new Capital Markets Act and is sending them back to the Madbouly Cabinet for approval, Financial Regulatory […]

Moody’s upgrades its outlook on the Egyptian banking system to ‘positive’ from ‘stable.’ Structural reforms in Egypt have created an environment of “sustainable and inclusive growth” that has helped improve overall operating conditions for banks, the ratings agency said yesterday. Moody’s sees banks maintaining strong credit growth and profitability, as well as strong funding, liquidity, […]

Egypt’s state-owned debit card system takes a step forward: Banks partnering with African payments service provider Network International “are now fully integrated and certified to process transactions from the new Egyptian national payments scheme Meeza,” Network International said in a statement (pdf) yesterday. Meeza is the national debit card the central bank is rolling out […]

Pharos Fund I climbs 11 spots on EIMA’s weekly rankings: Our friends at Pharos Holding announced yesterday that their open-ended equity fund Pharos Fund I has climbed 11 spots on the Egyptian Investment Management Association’s (EIMA) weekly rankings, placing it “amongst the top 15 equity funds in terms of y‐t‐d performance.” The improvement in the […]