Good morning, wonderful people. We really want to hear from you in our annual reader poll, which is back this year after a hiatus. Tap or click here and have your voice counted on issues including:
- Whether you think business conditions will improve in 2026;
- The biggest issue your business faces today;
- What you think AI will mean for your company;
- Where you see the EGP vs the USD this year;
- And more…
We’ll have the full results of the poll for you at the end of this month.
MEANWHILE- There’s no filler in this morning’s issue. US President Donald Trump wants to restart GERD talks — and it looks like he’s siding with us. Maersk ships will once again be transiting the Suez Canal, breathing new life into a key source of FX. And we have deep dives into why companies are doing share buybacks — and why battery storage manufacturing looks set to be the next big thing in the domestic renewables industry.
It’s official: Gourmet Egypt is going public
BREAKING- Gourmet Egypt released its intention to float (pdf) on the EGX just as we were about to hit “send” on this morning’s issue.
The transaction structure: It’s a 100% secondary offering, with selling shareholders including private equity outfit B Investments and members of the founding Abu Ghazaleh family looking to offload up to 47.6% of the company. Look for a private placement for international institutional investors and a public offering to investors in Egypt. B Investments will retain a 40% stake post-listing.
When’s it happening? Gourmet shares should start trading in February.
Gourmet by the numbers: The company operates 21 stores across Greater Cairo, Alexandria, El Gouna, and the North Coast, with delivery and e-commerce now accounting for roughly 35% of sales. The company posted EGP 2.1 bn in revenue in 2024 and grew 39.6% year-on-year through September 2025.
ADVISORS- Our friends at EFG Hermes Investment Banking are running the book and serving as sole global coordinators. MHR & Partners in association with White & Case are local counsel to the issuers.
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We’re sorry
PSA #1- We messed up. An agency partner that helps us manage our email system screwed up an automation that sends welcome emails to new subscribers. The result? Many of you got welcome emails yesterday to publications that some of you have been reading uninterrupted for as long as 11 years. We’re sorry for the unexpected appearance in your inbox yesterday — there’s nothing you need to do.
PSA #2- You’ll want to be extra-productive this week, because we should be heading into a three-day weekend in observance of Police Day / #25Jan / the 2011 Revolution — whatever you want to call 25 January. Cabinet has yet to confirm that Sunday is a day off.
WEATHER- It’s another cold, foggy morning in Cairo — so take care if you’re hitting the road anytime before 10am. As for the weather, the capital will be looking at a high of 20°C and an overnight low of 10°C, according to our favorite weather app.
Happening this week
It’s Davos week: World leaders, bankers, and global business leaders are touching down in Switzerland this week for the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting, which runs tomorrow through Friday. You can go deeper on the meeting’s microsite here.
President Abdel Fattah El Sisi is leading the Egyptian delegation. He’ll deliver what’s being billed as a capital-letter “Special Address” alongside WEF President Børge Brende on Wednesday. Cabinet members due on stage during the event include Investment Minister Hassan El Khatib, who join the editor-in-chief of Politico Europe and global private sector heavyweights to discuss the “Hard Choices for Industrial Policy” and Planning and International Cooperation Minister Rania Al Mashat, who will discuss the role of emerging markets in shaping the global economy alongside the International Finance Corporation’s Makhtar Diop and McKinsey & Company’s Bob Sternfels.
Finance Minister Ahmed Kouchouk and CIB’s Hisham Ezz Al Arab will wrap the week with a session headlined “A Prosperity Agenda for the Middle East,” where they will discuss how MENA could transform into a more competitive, diversified economic landscape. And MNT-Halan Founder and CEO Mounir Nakhla will be one of six people discussing women in finance.
Watch this space
SOVEREIGN DEBT — We’ve kicked off the year with EUR 1 bn worth of financing from the EU newly in our coffers and there is still more to come. A recently-arrived second tranche will be followed by a further EUR 3 bn later this year, one of two remaining tranches of the wider EUR 5 bn macro-financial assistance package from the bloc, the Planning and International Cooperation Ministry said in a statement Thursday.
Another USD 2.7 bn from the IMF should also be coming our way before the end of March, with the international lender’s executive board expected to convene in 1Q 2026, the fund’s Director of Communications Julie Kozack said at a press briefing over the weekend. We’re still not on the board’s public schedule
Why has it taken the board this long to approve our reviews? The delay — following a staff-level agreement in late December — was largely procedural due to the Christmas break, IMF Executive Director Mohamed Maait tells EnterpriseAM. Maait expects the board to convene within weeks once internal reviews are finalized.
How will the government use the IMF funds? Half of the disbursement will go towards the reduction of public debt, a government source tells us, adding that the delay isn’t expected to cause any issues — strong hot money inflows and regular coordination with the CBE mean the state is currently meeting all external obligations on schedule despite the shift in the IMF's board calendar.
SUEZ CANAL — Big shipping lines are returning to the Red Sea. Global shipping giant Maersk officially began rerouting its MECL service — connecting India and the Middle East to the US East Coast — back through the Suez Canal, the company said in a statement Thursday. “The resumption of service represents a direct boost to navigation traffic in the Suez Canal, as one of Maersk’s main lines returns to regular transit through the canal,” Middle East and Africa Chief Group Representative Hany El Nady tells EnterpriseAM.
By moving from test journeys to a formal return, Maersk’s could push other shipping lines to consider returning to the canal, with the efficiency of the route now seen as outweighing any lingering security risks, according to the Danish shipping company. “The decision also reflects a gradual restoration of global shipping lines’ confidence in the region’s vital waterways,” El Nady tells us.
It’s not just Maersk: CMA CGM will reroute its Indamex Service back through the Red Sea starting this month.
TAX — Our bid to get an exemption from the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) still has a way to go, with the bloc only having preliminarily approved a temporary exemption from the carbon tax, three senior government sources tell EnterpriseAM. “EU committees are currently communicating to provide their opinion on the matter in preparation for an official decision,” we were told.
One of the sources sees things a bit differently, telling us that fertilizers have already got the green light. The source expects similar exemptions “soon” for iron, steel, and aluminum products. The EU has not said anything publicly about our request.
Why does the Madbouly government think it has a chance? The EU understands the importance of Egyptian goods to the European market, as well as the limited international financing available to bolster the ability of countries to comply, the officials think.
IN CONTEXT- Egypt isn’t the only emerging market to lobby for exemptions. Others are doing the same, pointing to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and its provision that developing nations not be burdened with unfair market access fees.
A veteran industry player we spoke with on Thursday thinks there’s little chance the EU will give us an exemption. Importers in the EU have until the end of March to file paperwork that would allow them to import more than 50 tons of covered goods this year.
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The big story abroad
It’s another morning with Trump dominating global headlines: US President Donald Trump has officially launched a Greenland-focused trade war, announcing yesterday that Washington will slap a 10% tariff on eight European nations — including Denmark, Germany, and the UK — starting 1 February. The levy will increase to 25% on 1 June unless the US secures an agreement for the purchase of Greenland, which Trump means to use as a base for his Golden Dome missile defense project.
Countering the tariff noise, the EU and Mercosur signed a landmark trade agreement yesterday, ending 25 years of negotiations. The agreement eliminates 90% of tariffs between the EU and the South American bloc, a strategic move by Brussels to diversify supply chains for critical minerals and agricultural goods.
China and Canada, meanwhile, ended a trade war and signaled they are deepening their partnership.
WORTH READING THIS MORNING- The war between the White House and the Fed has turned into a legal showdown, as Chair Jay Powell publicly attacked a DOJ probe into his office, calling it a “pretext” for Trump to force interest rate cuts. (Financial Times)





