Good morning, friends. After plenty of mornings busy with IPO, energy, and telecom news, today is the first indication that our annual summer news slowdown may be in the offing. Don’t hold your breath, folks, but it’s quiet out there: We lead today’s brisk issue with comments from Trump regarding the US’ involvement in resolving the GERD dispute, investors’ changing appetite for local debt, and Polaris Parks’ latest venture.

BUT FIRST- Senior government officials and others in our community are heading to London for Egypt Day at the London Stock Exchange, an event put together by the good folks at the Finance Ministry. Officials from the Central Bank of Egypt, Ministry of Investment, Financial Regulatory Authority, and the EGX are also flying in for the gathering, which takes place tomorrow.

Officials are out to drum-up fresh investor interest, and they’ve got a series of good-news data points to highlight, including a growing pipeline of offerings on the EGX, strong appetite for Egyptian debt, and a drumbeat of investment from multinationals and other international players.

Investors were particularly interested in our report yesterday that Banque du Caire could be on deck to offer shares as part of a “fourth wave” of privatization that officials think could bring in some USD 5-6 bn. Military-owned companies including Safi and Wataneya are also set to go public..

Taking BdC public could breathe new life into the EGX. Bonyan is already proving that investors are willing to return to the EGX, confident that Hassan Abdalla’s FX regime is enduringly flexible. Investor interest would be off-the-charts if BdC were to include a substantial offering of global depositary receipts in the transaction. Banque du Caire is a rock-solid national institution with a great strategy and a spotless balance sheet after years of cleanup work by management, the board, and the central bank. And few execs in the country have the street cred with global investors that CEO Hussein Abaza has built up over decades.

An outline of the state’s asset monetization program and color on the IPO pipeline are among officials’ key talking in London alongside the usual updates on the Madbouly government’s basket of fiscal, monetary, and structural reforms. They’re also keen to drum up FDI and “deepen market liquidity,” we’re told.

SOUND SMART- Uh, Enterprise? What’s a “global depositary receipt”? A GDR trading on the LSE is a way for foreign investors to buy into an underlying Egyptian equity without going through the EGX. Issued by a bank and traded on the LSE in this case, GDRs let investors with London-only mandates pick up exposure to foreign names — no extra compliance burden, no local hurdles. And if you’re a foreign issuer, it’s a way of getting more foreign institutional investors into your shareholder registry without going through a full international IPO.

DEBT WATCH-

Speaking of foreign investors: Appetite for local debt is changing. Global investors are now favoring longer-term debt instruments over short-term options in our local debt market. The shift comes as Egypt’s attractive interest rates continue to stand out compared to other emerging markets, a senior government source told EnterpriseAM yesterday.

We have the CBE’s latest decision to thank: The Central Bank of Egypt’s decision last week to keep interest rates unchanged “significantly boosted foreign investors’ appetite,” the source added. The CBE’s move marked a halt in the Monetary Policy Committee’s easing cycle, after it cut rates by 225 bps in April and 100 bps in May. The overnight deposit rate now stands at 24.00%, the overnight lending rate at 25.00%, and the main operation and disc. rates at 24.50%.

The CBE appears to know that it has a captive audience, so don’t expect it to be super-generous. Foreign investors demanded elevated yields ranging between 30.7% and 32% across different maturities, prompting the CBE to scale back its acceptance of bids at auctions held between Thursday and Sunday. Most accepted bids came from local banks, which were after lower rates of 25-27.9%, our source noted. Investors bid for some EGP 341 bn worth of debt, while the CBE accepted only EGP 165 bn worth, according to data from the central bank.

WHY DOES IT MATTER? A preference for longer-dated debt is a welcome sign of investor confidence, showing they think we’re good for the debt when repayment time comes. And the CBE is right to send a signal that a bit north of 30% is a bit much. Investors have seen in recent months that the interbank market for FX is running smoothly. Critically, folks who wanted out of Egypt during a handful of recent Trump-fuelled global risk-offs have been easily able to get their greenbacks and get out of Cairo. Less skittish investors saw those easy exits as a sign that the underlying fundamentals and exist mechanisms are both running smoothly here — and promptly bought more debt.

PSA-

WEATHER- It’s another hot day in Cairo, with a high of 35°C and a low of 25°C, according to our favorite weather app.

It’s a little cooler in Alexandria, with a high of 32°C and a low of 22°C.

For decades, Sahel has been synonymous with summer's embrace: clear waters, crisp breezes, and vibrant nights. Last year, Ras El-Hekma cast a spotlight on its potential as a regional investment and tourism engine.

In the second issue of our Destination Sahel series, we’re digging deep into the infrastructure needed to support this evolution — and whether Sahel has a spot on the global tourism stage..

Look for the second issue of our series EnterpriseAM Destination Sahel in your inbox today at 10am.

WATCH THIS SPACE-

#1- Could the US hold the key to resolving the GERD dispute? The US is “working on” resolving the long-running dispute between Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), US President Donald Trump said yesterday during his meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte (watch, runtime: 35:02). Trump described the GERD dispute as “a big problem,” adding that the Nile is a “very important source of income and life” for Egyptians. “If I am Egypt, I want to have water in the Nile,” he said, questioning why the US, which he claims funded the dam, didn’t intervene to “solve the problem before they built the dam.”

REMEMBER- Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly last week confirmed that Ethiopia wants to resume negotiations over GERD. “We asked them to sign a document that turns recent statements into a written commitment,” he said.

#2- The Madbouly government will launch a new housing project to rehome residents of some 7.5k structurally unsafe buildings in Alexandria that have been flagged for demolition, Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly said yesterday (watch, runtime: 10:23). “There’s barely a day that passes without a partial or total collapse of an old building that already has a demolition order,” Madbouly said, adding that tenants often refuse to leave due to a lack of alternatives.

Some 60k new homes to replace those in unsafe buildings: The government will replicate its program for residents affected by amendments to the Old Rent Law, building 60k new homes to house residents of unsafe buildings marked for demolition, according to a cabinet statement. The new units will be constructed on land currently being identified in coordination with local authorities.

SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT-

The Transport Ministry called out alleged recordings of Deputy Prime Minister for Industrial Development Kamel El Wazir critiquing the country’s approach to infrastructure as “false, fabricated and malicious” in a ministry statement. The recordings that were spread online alleged to show El Wazir describing the country’s infrastructure as fragile and linking the Ramses data center fire to infrastructure underinvestment. “It is a false, fabricated, and malicious recording aimed at stirring up confusion, spreading rumors among citizens and diminishing the achievements of the Egyptian state,” the statement reads.

HAPPENING TODAY-

The Egypt MiningForum kicks off today at the Nile Ritz-Carlton, bringing together local and global mining heavyweights to explore potential investments in the sector. The two-day event, organized by the Oil Ministry, aims to spotlight Egypt’s mining sector reforms under its national development strategy. The event will bring together over 5k attendees, 80 speakers, and 100 exhibiting companies.

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SIGN OF THE TIMES-

Starbucks is paying corporate workers who decide to quit amid RTO mandate: Global coffee giant Starbucks is tightening its return-to-office policy, requiring corporate employees to work from the office at least four days a week starting October, up from three at the moment — and offering a cash payout to those who choose to leave instead. “If you decide you want to leave Starbucks for any reason, we respect that. To support those who decide to ‘opt out,’ we’re offering a one-time voluntary exit program with a cash payment for partners who make this choice,” CEO Brian Niccol wrote in a letter to employees, where he explained the rationale behind re-establishing in-office culture.

A final resort? The Financial Times thinks the move comes as “executives bank on in-person work to improve the company’s flagging performance.”

No more flexibility for managers: All corporate managers with direct reports will need to relocate to the company’s Seattle or Toronto HQs within a year. The shift follows a round of 1.1k job cuts in February and reflects a broader trend among US firms walking back remote work policies adopted during the pandemic. Amazon, also Seattle-based, has already ordered staff back five days a week.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD-

In a big reversal of his foreign policy stance towards Russia, US President Donald Trump threatened 100% tariffs on Russian imports — along with fresh sanctions — if Russia does not end its war on Ukraine within 50 days — and pledged bns of USD of new weapons for Ukraine. (Bloomberg | Reuters | Wall Street Journal)

Meanwhile, Trump is eyeing tomatoes and drones: The US will now be slapping Mexican tomatoes with a 17% tariff — separate from the 30% tariff on other imports from the country, while launching probes into drone imports, as well as imports of parts for unmanned aerial vehicles and for polysilicon, an important material for solar power. If the probes find that the imports are a threat to national security, new tariffs could be imposed. (Bloomberg | Reuters | New York Times)

Across the pond, the EU has prepared a list of USD 72 bn worth of US goods it plans to target with countermeasures as a retaliation against the US’ 30% tariff on EU imports. This includes Boeing aircraft, automobiles, Bourbon, machinery products, chemicals and plastics, medical devices, electrical equipment, and wine. (Bloomberg)

This comes as the EU’s lead negotiator, Maroš Šefčovič’s, warns of a “big gap” in trade talks with the US ahead of the 1 August deadline for the US’ reciprocal tariffs, the Financial Times reports.

ALSO- Keep an eye out for Wall Street’s earnings season: Major US banks including JP Morgan, Wells Fargo, and Citigroup are due to report their 2Q 2025 earnings today, and while forecasts are positive, it will be interesting to see how they fared during a volatile period marked by the introduction of tariffs and fears of a recession.

*** It’s Going Green day — your weekly briefing of all things green in Egypt: EnterpriseAM’s green economy vertical focuses each Tuesday on the business of renewable energy and sustainable practices in Egypt, everything from solar and wind energy through to water, waste management, sustainable building practices and how you can make your business greener, whatever the sector.

In today’s issue: We look at what the government is doing to prepare the nationwide used oil collection system to fuel sustainable aviation fuel manufacturing ambitions.