Xi’s Cairo visit brings a slew of agreements and MoUs

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WHAT WE’RE TRACKING TODAY

Helios’ Raya Foods bid collapses, marking its second failed Egypt deal in two months

Good morning, folks. It’s President Xi Jinping’s last day in Cairo, and we have a recap of all the arrangements on the table so far. We also have a story about the FRA narrowing a rule on insider trading.

Xi’s visit has been eventful, including five agreements and MoUs, more than 20 cooperation documents, a TEDA expansion, a tire-export cluster taking shape in Sokhna, a Mansour-Tianneng battery MoU, LRT financing, and OPay applying for a digital banking license. Today is his last day in town, and we’re waiting to see if we get any more big-ticket items, like a Huawei chip, a data center agreement, or a major EV investment.

The EGX insider-trading blackout story is smaller, but still worth understanding. The FRA has narrowed the blackout that used to surround every material disclosure, so it now only runs on the earnings calendar. The underlying ban on insider trading is unchanged; what’s been adjusted is the automatic buffer that used to sit around every disclosure.

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Helios frozen out of Raya Foods

Raya Holding’s board walked away from Helios’ bid for its frozen-food unit, according to an EGX disclosure (pdf), marking the UK-based, Africa-focused PE firm’s second collapsed local transaction in under two months. Raya’s BoD resolved yesterday not to proceed with Helios Investment Partners’ amended offer for 100% of Raya Foods, citing unmet conditions required to complete the transaction.

REFRESHER- In October 2024, Helios opened with USD 40 mn for 49% of Raya Foods. The board cleared an escalated full buyout in December last year, with FACT appointed as independent financial advisor to set fair value, and the exit set to go to an EGM once the report landed. Terms of the amended offer were never disclosed. In July, Telecom Egypt pulled the plug on its planned sale of a majority stake in Regional Data Center Hub to Helios Investment Partners.

Pairing up on industrial zones

Egypt and Oman are studying plans to build twin industrial zones — one in each country — modeled on Egypt’s industrial-developer model, according to a statement by the Industrial Development Authority (IDA). The two sides are still working out which sectors would anchor the proposed zones, with a broader aim to support industrial integration and trade between the two markets.

This is a sign Cairo’s zone playbook could become an export in its own right. Under an industrial-developer model, private developers (rather than the state) handle the development and management of industrial land — an approach the government has been deploying in new specialized industrial zones at home. Egypt currently runs 26 such zones through 12 private developers across c. 40 mn sqm, according to the IDA.

REMEMBER- Egypt and Oman have been looking at ways to link their industrial footprints more closely, exploring a Sokhna-Sohar supply-chain link late last year, including logistics infrastructure and joint industrial activity that could channel Omani raw materials into Egyptian manufacturing.

PSA-

#1- Property buyers are being told to read the fine print on assignment of rights: The Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA) is urging buyers to review all contractual terms before signing an installment purchase contract, particularly clauses covering “assignment of rights,” the authority said in a statement yesterday. Most developer contracts now include clauses letting the developer assign either the entire contract or the financial rights arising from it to a third party — in practice, that’s usually a mortgage finance company. Where that happens, the FRA says both the developer and the finance company are obliged to notify the buyer of the assignment and of how the remaining installments are to be paid.

#2- The eight-month temporary tax card we first told you about in June is now live, according to a statement by the Egyptian Tax Authority. The card gives eligible investors eight months to complete the licensing and other establishment procedures needed to qualify for the standard five-year tax card.

There are limits: Temporary cardholders cannot issue electronic invoices or receipts until they regularize their position and secure the permanent card, while eligibility itself will be determined by the Tax Authority based on the type of business. Ordinary service and trading businesses operating from a single, properly documented location will continue to receive the five-year card directly.

#3- WEATHER- It’s hazy, humid, and foggy on your morning drive in Cairo today, with a high of 35°C and a low of 24°C, according to our favorite weather app.

It’s muggy and marginally cooler in Alexandria, with a high of 32°C and a low of 24°C.

And over the weekend, expect to see highs of 34-35°C in the capital and 31°C both days for our friends on the Mediterranean.

The big story abroad

As the White House pushes more international players to invest in Venezuela, oil giant Chevron announced a USD 7 bn plan to double its production in the South American nation over the next five years. The Washington-led drive for crude oil investment also saw commitments from Eni and General Electric.

Chip appetite set to rise? Semiconductor manufacturer Broadcom foresees a surge in AI chip sales over the next two years, doubling to USD 115 bn next year and USD 230 bn the year after, according to its CEO Hock Tan. The boom is fueled by demand from Google, OpenAI, and Meta, which are looking to supplement their supply from Nvidia, whose dominance in the field Broadcom hopes to challenge.

Antitrust bid to break up Google ad arm fails (again): Google will not have to divest crucial parts of its digital advertising unit, after a federal judge rejected a bid by the US Department of Justice to dismantle the search giant’s alleged monopoly. The decision — the second in as many years — ruled that, while Google operated an illegal monopoly, it did not have to sell its Chrome browser and Android operating system.

What Xi’s Cairo visit has delivered so far: Teda expansion, MoUs, and wider China footprint

Xi Jinping’s first state visit to Egypt in a decade has so far delivered a set of working tracks instead of the broader wishlist some had hoped for. But the Chinese president doesn’t leave town until later today, so more information may still be coming.

Before we get into the details, here’s what has — and has not — changed: Beijing and Cairo have started putting structure around the pre-visit agenda of more Chinese manufacturing, technology, and trade. They also backed expanding their currency-swap agreement.

But we have yet to hear of the headline agreements that would settle the bigger questions: a Huawei chip or data center agreement, a major EV investment, or firm commitments on semiconductors, shipbuilding, and export capacity. Those could still come before Xi leaves Cairo today.

So, what was on the table?

President Abdel Fattah El Sisi and Xi oversaw the signing of five agreements and MoUs, plus more than 20 further cooperation documents, according to a statement from the Egyptian Presidency spokesperson. The five agreements run from an MoU aligning Egypt’s Vision 2030 with China’s Belt and Road, through economic and technical cooperation, industrial and supply chain, and information technology MoUs, to one between the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone) authority and China’s Commerce Ministry.

The most concrete industrial piece is at Teda. El Sisi and Xi agreed to expand the China-Egypt Teda zone in the SCZone — a third-phase expansion, per an official statement, aimed at industrial localization and technology transfer in sectors like renewable energy, automotive, textiles, and chemical fibers.

The 20 cooperation documents fill in the map: technology, finance, the digital economy, transport, and media. Set those alongside other reports and news including OPay’s digital banking bid, a USD 665 mn light-rail financing package, and back-to-back battery and tire MoUs — and the shape is clear: Beijing is widening its Egyptian footprint on every front at once, from the ports to the payment rails.

DATA POINT- Announced Chinese greenfield investment in Egypt has topped USD 52 bn since Xi’s last visit in 2016 — a record 30 new projects unveiled in 2025, up from 11 in 2024, per fDi Markets data shared by analyst Naser Al Tamimi. That’s announced project capex, not realized FDI, which the government puts at over USD 10 bn.

A tire export hub on the table

China’s largest tiremaker is circling Sokhna. Zhongce Rubber Group (ZC Rubber) — founded in 1958 and maker of the Westlake and Chao Yang brands — signed a letter of intent with the SCZone to study a USD 500 mn tire-manufacturing complex in the Sokhna Industrial Zone, according to an Investment Ministry statement. The proposed three-phase complex would span c. 600k sqm, with the company targeting 95% of output for export to African, Middle Eastern, and European markets.

And there’s a cluster forming behind it. ZC Rubber is at least the fourth Chinese tire-sector investor to target Sokhna in the past year — after Sailun’s USD 1 bn plant, which broke ground in September 2025, Chaoyang Longmarch’s USD 190 mn factory, and Zenith’s USD 300 mn tire-components plant. Egypt is being assembled — project by project — into a Chinese-built tire-export base on the Red Sea, close to Suez and inside the trade agreements that open Africa, the Gulf, and the EU.

Mansour plugs in

Mansour Group signed an MoU with Tianneng Battery Group — China’s top lead-acid maker, which also has a lithium, sodium, and solid-state range — to study making batteries and energy-storage systems in Egypt, an Investment Ministry statement says. It’s exploratory — no site, figure, or timeline yet — and would cover lead-acid automotive batteries plus lithium cells for new-energy vehicles and grid storage. This comes in parallel with the government’s plans to locally manufacture Huawei-backed battery energy storage systems and build standalone storage stations totaling 4 GWh.

OPay’s Egypt bank bid

OPay wants to run a digital bank in Egypt. The Chinese-owned payments giant formally applied to the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) for a digital banking license, Al Arabiya reports, citing unnamed sources. OPay submitted its shareholder structure, marketing and tech plans, and track record, and now it waits on preliminary CBE approval before the next licensing stage.

It’s not OPay’s first signal. The fintech flagged its intent to apply back in 2023, alongside local names including Aman, MNT-Halan, Sahl, Basata Financial Holding, Ostoul Securities Brokerage, and PaySky. What’s changed is that the field ahead of it now has real licenses: Banque Misr’s Onebank secured Egypt’s first final digital-bank approval in August 2025, QNB Group’s ezbank received its own CBE license approval a few months later in October, and CIB’s yomo got preliminary approval in August 2026.

Chinese-owned, Nigerian-made: OPay is Chinese-founded and -funded — chaired by its founder Zhou Yahui, with Meituan, SoftBank, and IDG Capital among its backers — but built its banking business in Nigeria, where it runs on microfinance-bank and mobile-money licenses. Nigeria threw off 88.1% of OPay’s 2025 revenue — while Egypt accounted for just 1.6%. Its gross transaction value more than doubled last year to USD 358 bn, up from USD 166.2 bn — enough traction that South Africa’s Standard Bank is weighing a stake in the fintech ahead of a targeted USD 4 bn US IPO, Bloomberg reports.

China backs LRT, again

On the infrastructure side, two financing agreements worth USD 665 mn are set to be signed to extend the New Capital’s light-rail transit (LRT) line, according to two people familiar with the matter — the latest tranche of Chinese money for a railway Beijing has financed since it broke ground.

The breakdown: Up to USD 515 mn covers Phase 4 construction — a 15 km extension with five stations — through a consortium of China’s AVIC Int’l and MPEC. A further USD 150 mn funds feasibility studies for Phase 5 — a 7.8 km spur running to an industrial zone in the New Capital that has yet to come online. The government’s target is 1 mn daily riders once the network is finished.

None of this is new territory: The LRT dates to 2014, and we’ve tracked its financing for years. Phases 1 and 2 — roughly 70 km and 12 stations, with USD 1.2 bn from China’s Exim Bank — opened in 2022, running from Adly Mansour in greater Cairo to the New Capital via Tenth of Ramadan. Phase 3 (20.4 km, four stations) is part-open, with two stations already running. And Phase 4 was in motion long before this week: AVIC and China Railway Major Bridge Engineering Group signed a framework for it back in November 2023, lining up a USD 250 mn syndicated soft loan at the time.

Insider trading blackout now runs on the earnings calendar only

The trading blackout that once ran for five business days before and one business day after any material disclosure by a listed company is now limited to the earnings calendar, under amendments (pdf) made by the Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA) to the listing and delisting rules which took effect yesterday. M&As, capital increases, major contract awards, and regulatory actions no longer open a window on their own.

SOUND SMART- This narrows the blackout, not the insider-trading ban. The old rules (pdf) barred insiders, company officers, anyone with access to non-public information, and 20%-plus shareholders from dealing for five days before and a day after any material event or information, putting a buffer around every market-moving disclosure. That buffer is now tied to the earnings calendar instead. The underlying prohibition on trading on inside information sits separately under the Capital Market Law and remains untouched.

The mechanics of the rule: The window now runs five business days before and the business day after publication of a company’s results of operations and, in the text of the amendment, around its annual and periodic financial statements where those differ materially from the results already published.

Who counts as an insider? The bucket covers board members of the company, its holding company, and its subsidiary, sister, and controlled companies, along with their representatives, spouses, and minor children. It also includes anyone who can access the company’s inside information, as well as their spouses and minor children. In addition, the blackout catches company officers and any shareholder holding 20% or more, alone or through related parties.

What this means in practice: Results sat in a grey area under the old wording, “there used to be a bit of debate around it,” Sameh Gharib, capital markets expert at Tycoon Securities, tells EnterpriseAM, arguably not a discrete material event at all, since they’re period performance figures rather than a one-off occurrence, and there was genuine debate over whether the blackout caught them. Naming results explicitly removes that ambiguity, while broader inside information goes back to sitting under the Capital Market Law and its executive regulations, he said.

Gharib reads the package as a net positive. Fuller transparency and equal access to information for all shareholders rather than a select few is what separates developed markets from the rest, he tells us.

The rest of the package

Treasury and incentive shares are now outside the blackout entirely, provided dealing runs through the special transactions market or the open market — which lets insiders, officers, and 20%-plus shareholders trade treasury or incentive shares during the blackout, including taking delivery of incentive awards in the run-up to results. Treasury shares revert to the company, Gharib tells us, so a purchase before good results or a sale before bad ones accrues to the whole shareholder base rather than to particular individuals, which is the logic for pulling them out of the blackout.

One control disappeared: Companies had been barred from letting anyone see inside information before entering their details in the insider register. The register’s own catch-all wording is gone too, though the rulebook’s definition of insiders still reaches anyone who can access inside information — so the register’s population is largely unchanged in substance.

The FRA can take conflicted insiders out of deliberations + voting: Where a board or general assembly matter touches an insider, an officer, or a 20%-plus shareholder’s direct or indirect interest, or hands them a benefit, advantage, preferential treatment, or relief from an obligation, the FRA may limit deliberation and voting on it to the company’s other shareholders. It also reaches those people who are under investigation for crimes involving company funds.

What changed: Conflicted voting was already barred automatically at 10%, both on related-party exchange contracts and on any other matter where an insider had an interest, with the board report to the general assembly having to show they’d disclosed it and stayed out of the vote. Those bars stand. What’s new sits on top of them, and only bites at 20% and up — and only when the FRA decides to use it.

Conflicts must also be declared in real time, in writing to the board — before deliberations begin — stating the individual’s name, the nature of the interest, and the steps taken to keep them out, all recorded in the minutes. Conflicts already had to surface in the annual board report — the timing is what has now changed.

Fraud is the symptom. The compromise came first

The fraudulent transaction is usually the last scene, not the opening act. Before money moves, credentials may already have been stolen, traded, or tested after a cyber incident somewhere in the payments chain — from merchant checkout to issuer, acquirer, processor, or service provider. The new Visa Threat Intelligence Platform (VTIP) is built for that moment, bringing cyber and payments intelligence into one place so financial institutions can spot threats before they turn into fraud losses.

Visa has seen this movie at scale. It blocks about 90 mn cyberattacks and 11 mn phishing emails each month across 200+ countries, backed by more than USD 13 bn in security technology investment over five years. VTIP was developed by Visa’s defense operations team and tested first inside Visa’s own global payments network before being offered to financial institutions.

For risk teams, the platform adds payments context to cyber intelligence. VTIP combines financial-sector malware indicators, vulnerability intelligence tied to each organization’s exposure, and brand-impersonation alerts. It also surfaces compromised payment credentials found on the dark web and enriches them with VisaNet insights. Digital Identity Intelligence adds another layer, monitoring how executives and employees may be targeted personally. That last point matters because attackers do not always need to break the firewall when they can reach the person behind it.

The bigger change is operational. Cybersecurity, fraud, and risk teams often work from separate systems, while attackers move across the full chain. VTIP connects the breach, the credential, and the transaction, giving institutions earlier intelligence on cyber incidents that may later manifest as fraud.

Valu renews Walid Hassouna’s CEO role for three years

Valu’s board of directors has extended CEO and founder Walid Hassouna’s term for another three years, according to a press release (pdf). The board also extended the contracts of the members of the Executive Committee for the same period.

A brief on the tenure: Hassouna assumed his full-time role as Valu’s CEO in 2022, after he vacated his position as CEO of EFG Hermes’ Non-Bank Financial Institutions (NBFI) platform. Under his leadership, the company began trading on the EGX last year and brought on US multinational giant Amazon as a shareholder. The firm also secured approval from the FRA to establish an SME financing arm and expanded into Jordan earlier this year. Hassouna will be steering the consumer finance outfit as it invests in its proprietary technology infrastructure, including a new data center, and expands into new markets and segments.

Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly appointed Tarek Seif as deputy chairman of the Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA) while reappointing Mohamed Al Sayyad as FRA deputy chairman and Mohamed Sabry as deputy chair of the Egyptian Exchange (EGX), according to separate statements (here, here, and here). All three terms run for one year, with Sabry’s renewal effective 28 August.

Here’s the roster:

#1- Tarek Seif (LinkedIn) is an ins. and sustainable finance specialist with nearly three decades of experience. He most recently served as executive director of the Financial Services Institute, the Egyptian Institute of Directors, and the Regional Center for Sustainable Finance. He was previously secretary-general of the Egyptian Ins. Federation from 2021 to 2024. At the FRA, Seif contributed to the executive regulations implementing the 2024 Unified Ins. Law, governance guides for NBFIs, and the authority’s 2023-2026 strategy.

#2- Mohamed Al Sayyad (LinkedIn) will remain in the post for another year following a previous renewal in 2025. He first took the post in 2023, following earlier stints as an assistant chairman at both the FRA and the EGX. Al Sayyad brings more than 30 years of capital markets experience. He served as senior assistant chairman of the EGX from 2013 to 2019 and previously oversaw listing and disclosure.

#3- Mohamed Sabry (LinkedIn) will remain second-in-command at the bourse after being first appointed last year. He joined the EGX in 2010 and rose through its ranks to become acting head of market surveillance. Sabry moved to the FRA in 2023 to oversee trading market supervision before becoming assistant chairman for capital markets from August 2024 to August 2025. His renewal keeps him as deputy to EGX Chairman Omar Radwan, who took the helm in April.

Turning AI into a financial decision-making tool

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Cairo’s vanishing trees in the spotlight

The removal of trees on Jameat El Dowal Al Arabiya Street in Mohandiseen, Cairo was last night’s talking point, as ongoing development works aim to reorganize traffic flow and improve efficiency on one of Cairo’s busiest streets. On Yahduth Fi Misr, Sherif Amer highlighted the widespread dissatisfaction with the tree removal alongside development projects across Egypt in recent years.

Amer pointed out that cutting down trees contradicts the 100 mn Tree Initiative launched by President Abdel Fattah El Sisi in 2022, questioning why innovative alternatives were not explored to avoid this outcome (watch, runtime: 05:25). “We are talking about a national project to plant 100 mn trees… If we already had trees, why were they cut down?” Amer said.

The incident triggered a fair bit of controversy over the past week, prompting a response from both the local development and environment ministries, which said that plans are in place to replace the removed trees with twice as many.

REMEMBER- We previously highlighted the tree-felling issue. Road expansion projects have led to the loss of some 911k sqm of Cairo’s green spaces in the three years leading up to 2020.

National Company for Asset Management converts debt into equity to clear main market capital floor

A state-owned company parked on the EGX’s SME market is converting shareholder debt into equity to clear the main market’s capital floor. The National Company for Asset Management and Investment will call an extraordinary general meeting to nearly double its capital to EGP 105 mn, up from EGP 55 mn, according to a bourse disclosure (pdf). The company will issue 10 mn new shares at EGP 5 apiece, with the full amount settled against credit balances owed to existing shareholders.

IN CONTEXT- The National Company for Asset Management and Investment would be joining a small but growing queue. Future Care (formerly International Company for Medical Industries) began trading on the main board last week after 14 years on the SME market, nearly doubling capital to EGP 115.2 mn from EGP 57.7 mn to clear the same EGP 100 mn minimum — a move that opens a stock to index and institutional mandates that don’t reach the SME board. It was the year’s second SME-to-main transfer, after non-bank lender Tawasoa for Factoring in June.

AAIB’s 1H earnings rise

Arab African International Bank (AAIB) reported a 27% y-o-y increase in net income to USD 202.8 mn in 1H 2026, marking its highest first-half bottom line in the past five years, according to the bank’s earnings release (pdf). Net banking income rose 15% y-o-y to USD 398.4 mn, supported by an 18% increase in net interest income to USD 346.2 mn. Net interest margin widened to 4.2%, while annualized return on average equity rose to 13.5% from 11.5% a year earlier. The bank also improved its cost-to-income ratio to 26.6% from 27.6%.

3C codes a path to Saudi

Homegrown education platform 3C Coding School raised USD 3 mn in a seed round. MRG Economic Group led the equity round, with participation from businessman Amr Saad and a group of angel investors. The edtech plans to put the proceeds toward entering the Saudi market and accelerating the development of an AI-powered learning platform.

IN CONTEXT- Saudi Arabia has become a familiar expansion destination for Egyptian edtech. Fellow kids-coding platform iSchool raised USD 4.5 mn before pushing further across the GCC, and we’ve looked more broadly at why Egyptian edtech companies increasingly see the Gulf — and Saudi in particular — as their next growth market.

Gulf money eyes the Corniche

Gulf money is circling Cairo’s Nile front. The Housing Ministry is weighing bids from Gulf investors to build residential, office, and hotel projects in the Maspero Triangle and along the Corniche, a government source tells us. The steer is toward equity partnerships that leave the state holding a stake rather than selling the land outright — though there are no names, figures, or timelines attached yet.

There’s a parallel track — the government plans to open 22 Corniche investment prospects to the private sector, some on plots now held by state bodies, with the rollout expected before year-end.

More on our radar:

Spanish steel and aluminum processor Gonvarri Industries is exploring investment prospects in Egypt across automotive components, renewable energy, and metal structures following talks with Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly. (Statement)
Egypt and Italy are reviving diplomatic ties, with their joint higher committee convening in Cairo today for the first time in a decade. The meeting is running alongside a relaunch of the Egypt-Italy Joint Business Forum, which brings together companies and trade and investment institutions from both sides for business-to-business meetings.
Telecom Egypt and Greek subsea specialist Power Sub Link (PSL) are partnering to build a c. 200 km submarine cable between Sharm El Sheikh and Taba, with a design capacity of around 5 petabits and commercial operations targeted for 4Q 2027. The cable will extend Telecom Egypt’s Red Sea Festoon network and plug into its trans-Egypt internet corridor. (Statement)
Mountain View and Palm Hills are among six consortiums shortlisted to bid for Kuwait’s over 2 mn-sqm Almitlae City M-3 development. Mountain View is bidding alongside Kuwaiti partners Injazzat and First Group, while Palm Hills is partnering with Kuwait’s National Real Estate Company for the 2.4k-unit project. (Hapi)

Private capital in the Middle East falls to its lowest half-year total on record in 1H 2026

Private capital investment in the Middle East fell sharply in 1H 2026, down 73% y-o-y to just USD 1.7 bn, the steepest drop and the smallest half-year total of any market the Global Private Capital Association (GPCA) tracks, according to the organization’s mid-year industry data (pdf). It’s a sharp reversal for a region that held up reasonably well through the last few years: Middle East private investment value peaked at USD 24.1 bn in 2022 and hit USD 21.6 bn in 2025.

This was expected: A month into the war, Jeff Schlapinski, managing director of research at GPCA, previously told us that the regional conflict had brought “a pause or a slower pace in new investments” — even as some investors were still honoring their capital calls. The VC-specific picture — though covering a broader MENA footprint than GPCA’s Middle East figures — tells a related but distinct story. Startups across the region raised USD 1.35 bn across 214 transactions in 1H 2026, according to Magnitt — down 22% y-o-y, with dealcount off 41% to its lowest half-year total since at least 2022 as foreign investors pulled back sharply.

Fintech still dominated what investments did close, capturing 47% of the region’s VC capital and 42% of VC-backed transactions in 1H, but overall momentum slowed as the conflict weighed on sentiment, per GPCA.

The good news: Since the 30 June cutoff, sovereign-scale capital has shown up in a hurry. In July alone, Blackstone, Brookfield, and KKR agreed to a USD 16 bn lease-and-leaseback transaction for Kuwait Petroleum Corporation’s pipeline network, and Brookfield announced a USD 2 bn first close for its PIF-backed regional fund. Neither transaction counts toward the 1H numbers — but together they signal that large, government-anchored capital hasn’t lost its appetite for the region.

Beyond the Middle East, the picture looked very different. Private capital across Asia-Pacific, Latin America, Africa, and Central and Eastern Europe rose 23% y-o-y to USD 94.7 bn in 1H, defying the same geopolitical and energy-supply disruptions that hit the Gulf.

China stole the show: Mega rounds for AI and robotics startups pushed 1H investment above the full-year totals for 2023, 2024, and 2025. Pure-play AI funding clustered overwhelmingly in China and, to a lesser extent, India, with DeepSeek, Moonshot AI, and Neysa helping push AI investment across GPCA markets to a record.

The picks-and-shovels trade followed close behind: Digital infrastructure investment jumped alongside AI, led by a USD 4.5 bn investment in Singapore’s Day One data-center platform. In Africa, Liquid Intelligent Technologies raised USD 660 mn in debt financing, including a USD 150 mn loan anchored by Ninety One-managed private credit funds.

Climate capital is also back on the menu: Fundraising for climate-focused strategies in 1H already topped the total raised in all of 2025 as energy disruptions revived interest in fast-to-deploy renewables. Actis held a USD 2.5 bn first close for its sixth renewable-energy fund, while BTG Pactual’s reforestation and timberland vehicles raised USD 1.6 bn combined.

Elsewhere, CEE investment value nearly tripled y-o-y, and Latin America almost doubled, with infrastructure accounting for 39% of capital deployed there. Pan-Asia funds raised USD 15.9 bn in 1H, including EQT’s record USD 15.6 bn Asia fund close.

MARKETS THIS MORNING-

Asian markets are mixed this morning, with South Korea’s Kospi trading at a 1.2% gain, while Japan’s Nikkei was flat. Meanwhile, Wall Street equities were either flat or notching minor gains — US futures were flat across the board.

EGX30	55,680	+0.5% (YTD: +33.1%)
USD (CBE)	Buy 51.04	Sell 51.18
USD (CIB)	Buy 51.00	Sell 51.10
Interest rates (CBE)	19.00% deposit	20.00% lending
Tadawul	11,012	-0.8% (YTD: +5.0%)
ADX	9,906	-0.7% (YTD: -0.9%)
DFM	5,815	-0.3% (YTD: -3.8%)
S&P 500	7,667	+0.5% (YTD: +12.0%)
FTSE 100	10,756	-0.3% (YTD: +8.3%)
Euro Stoxx 50	6,362	-0.1% (YTD: +9.8%)
Brent crude	USD 95.63	+1.0%
Natural gas (Nymex)	USD 3.00	+1.6%
Gold	USD 4,434.20	+0.4%
BTC	USD 77,349	+0.2% (YTD: -11.8%)
S&P Egypt Sovereign Bond Index	1,110	+0.0% (YTD: +11.8%)
S&P MENA Bond & Sukuk	150.82	-0.1% (YTD: -0.7%)
VIX (Volatility Index)	15.20	-7.0% (YTD: +1.7%)

THE CLOSING BELL-

The EGX30 rose 0.5% at yesterday’s close on turnover of EGP 15.1 bn (34% above the 90-day average). International investors were the sole net buyers. The index is up 33.1% YTD.

In the green: Mopco (+9.0%), Abu Qir Fertilizers (+6.8%), and Sidpec (+6.6%).

In the red: ADIB (-2.4%), Palm Hills Developments (-2.1%), and Rameda (-1.3%).

My Morning Routine: Dalia Allam, VP and CMO of Abou Ghaly Motors Group at Abou Ghaly Motors

Dalia Allam, vice president and CMO of Abou Ghaly Motors Group, Abou Ghaly Motors: Each week, My Morning Routine looks at how a successful member of the community starts their day — and then throws in a couple of random business questions just for fun. Speaking to us this week is Dalia Allam (LinkedIn), VP and chief marketing officer of Abou Ghaly Motors Group at Abou Ghaly Motors.

Edited excerpts from our conversation:

Understanding people beyond what they say has shaped my entire career. As a marketing and business leader with more than 23 years of experience building brands, shaping consumer connections, and driving growth, I’ve worked at organizations like Unilever, PepsiCo, and now Abou Ghaly Motors, where I serve as vice president and chief marketing officer.

Throughout my career, I’ve been deeply passionate about going beyond what consumers say to uncover the emotions, behaviors, tensions, and cultural insights that shape the choices they make. I believe the strongest brands are built when these human insights are translated into powerful ideas and experiences that create genuine relevance, strengthen brand equity, and ultimately accelerate business growth.

Abou Ghaly Motors is a highly diversified business with a unique footprint spanning automotive, mobility and ride-hailing, energy, light mobility and motorcycles, development, and spare parts. This breadth allows us to serve very different consumer segments, needs, and industries while creating significant growth prospects across the portfolio.

The market around us is transforming rapidly. Over the past few years, we’ve seen an unprecedented influx of new brands and players, evolving consumer expectations, new technologies, and an increasingly competitive landscape. I see this as a very positive challenge and an important inflection point for us, one that creates the right moment to pause, challenge the way we’ve traditionally done things, and rethink how we compete and grow.

We have a clear mandate to shape the market ahead of us. For a business with the scale, heritage, capabilities, and portfolio of Abou Ghaly Motors, that means becoming more consumer-centric, building stronger and more differentiated brands, creating greater synergies across our businesses, and continuously evolving the experiences we offer our customers. We have tremendous potential across the portfolio, and our focus now is on unlocking that potential and building the next chapter of growth for Abou Ghaly Motors.

New mobility solutions are unlocking consumer segments we couldn’t reach before. As they emerge, we can address different needs and price points, and ultimately drive greater penetration. I believe the companies that lead the next phase will be those that see this transformation not as a disruption to manage, but as a window to redefine the market and create new avenues for growth.

I’m naturally an early riser, and I value an early start. At 6 am, I have breakfast with my kids before they head off to school at 6:30 am. My early start gives me quiet time for clarity and a sense that I’m ahead of the day rather than chasing it.

Time is one of our most valuable assets, and how we choose to use it makes an enormous difference. I start my day with a very clear to-do list, prioritized from the most important to the least important, and stick to those priorities rather than letting the day get consumed by things that feel urgent but aren’t necessarily important. I also believe strongly in working efficiently rather than simply working long hours, staying on task during the day so that I can leave at a reasonable time. For me, being effective isn’t measured by how many hours I put in, but by the quality of what I accomplish and the decisions I make.

Sports have been the one constant influence in my life. I was a professional artistic swimmer for more than 20 years, representing Egypt at the highest level as a national champion, national team captain, and Olympian at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games. That journey instilled in me a deep belief in discipline, resilience, ambition, teamwork, and the relentless pursuit of excellence, principles that continue to shape my leadership style today.

Building a more professional sporting culture in Egypt became my next mission. My passion for sport later led me to establish and lead my own artistic swimming academy for 10 years. My vision extended far beyond developing successful athletes. I wanted to create a lasting impact on young athletes, developing their confidence, ambition, and belief in what they could achieve. The common thread across my career, whether in business, brand building, or sport, has always been the same: building something meaningful, unlocking potential, and creating impact that lasts.

High performance isn’t only about how hard you push — it’s also about how well you recover. Competing at that level taught me that discipline, recovery, and how intelligently you manage your energy matter just as much as effort. I try to bring that same philosophy into my life and career today.

Knowing when to switch off is just as important as staying focused during the day. I consciously break my day with moments that allow my mind to disconnect from work. My afternoons and evenings are usually spent with my children, family, and friends, time that gives me the mental space to recharge.

I’ve been fortunate to have many role models throughout different stages of my life, and I genuinely believe each one has contributed to shaping the person and leader I am today. From my family and my uncle, to people I looked up to throughout my sporting career, and later mentors and leaders in the workplace, I’ve always surrounded myself with people I could learn from and aspire to.

No single piece of advice changed everything for me. I believe we’re shaped by hundreds of conversations, experiences, observations, and pieces of advice along the way. Some stay with us consciously, while others quietly influence the way we think, lead, and make decisions.

My advice is to surround yourself with people who challenge you, inspire you, and raise the bar for who you want to become. At the same time, growth can’t come only from others. Self-awareness and continuous self-development are equally important. Becoming better requires the humility to recognize that there’s always more to learn, the openness to seek experiences and perspectives from different sources, and the discipline to continuously invest in yourself. I don’t believe we ever reach a finished version of ourselves, and that’s what makes the journey of growth so powerful.

CALENDAR

SEPTEMBER

8-10 September (Tuesday-Thursday) El Alamein International Airshow, El Alamein International Airport.

10-12 September (Thursday-Saturday): Egyptian Entrepreneurship Sector Diagnostics Report Summit, El Gouna.

15 September (Tuesday): IMF to hold its eighth review of Egypt’s USD 8 bn EFF arrangement.

24 September (Thursday): Monetary Policy Committee’s sixth meeting of 2026.

27-29 September (Sunday-Tuesday): Global Conference on Population, Health, and Human Development.

28-29 September (Monday-Tuesday): Egypt Mining Forum, St. Regis Hotel New Capital.

30 September - October 3 (Wednesday-Saturday): Cityscape, Egypt International Exhibition Center, Cairo.

OCTOBER

5 October (Monday): The EnterpriseAM Egypt Forum.

6 October (Tuesday): Armed Forces Day.

10-11 October (Saturday-Sunday): Egypt Women’s Health Summit (EWHS), Cairo Marriott Hotel.

26-28 October (Monday-Wednesday): IEX Egypt, Egypt International Exhibition Center, Cairo.

29 October (Thursday): Monetary Policy Committee’s seventh meeting of 2026.

NOVEMBER

6-8 November (Friday-Sunday) : Global Entrepreneurship Festival, JW Marriott Hotel, New Cairo.

8-11 November (Sunday-Wednesday): Cairo ICT Forum.

DECEMBER

7-10 December (Monday-Thursday): Food Africa, Egypt International Exhibition Center, Cairo.

17 December (Thursday): Monetary Policy Committee’s eighth meeting of 2026.

EVENTS WITH NO SET DATE

2H 2026: Operations at Deli Glass Co’s new USD 70 mn glassware factory kick off.

2026: The Egyptian-American Economic Forum.

4Q 2026: Banque du Caire IPO.

2027

20 January-7 February: Egypt to host the African Games.

1-3 February (Monday-Wednesday): Agri Expo, Cairo International Convention Center.

April 2027: Tenth of Ramadan dry port and logistics hub to begin operations.

EVENTS WITH NO SET DATE

2027: Egypt to host EBRD’s annual meetings.

2027: Egypt-EU Summit 2027.

End of 2027: Trial operations at the Dabaa nuclear power plant expected to take place.

September 2028: First unit of the Dabaa nuclear power plant begins operations.

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