Pre-Trading Thoughts

Al Ahly Pharos

Al Ahly Financial Investments Management and Evolve Investment have launched Dahab Fund. Dahab is an Open-End fund that aims to achieve appropriate long-term returns for investment in gold, allowing instant investment with high liquidity and low cost such that the Net Asset Value of the fund is calculated based on the gold price announced by the Egyptian Stock Exchange.

A report issued by the Institute of International Finance said that Egypt has repaid USD25 billion of its public domestic and foreign debt since last March.

Factories in the steel, livestock, food production, petrochemicals, and fertilizers industries are facing operational disruptions due to ongoing power cuts and gas shortages that are squeezing companies’ bottom lines.

The Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone) inked a framework agreement with Chinese chemicals manufacturer Befar Group to set up an integrated chemicals production complex dubbed Green Marine in China’s special economic zone TEDA. Green Marine’s first phase will see an investment of USD250 million to build a 300k sqm facility in TEDA.

Shareholders in the Leviathan gas field — Israel’s largest — announced that they plan to invest up to USD500 million to expand production. The field primarily exports to Egypt and Jordan, with exports from the Leviathan gas field to Egypt reaching 6.3 bcm last year, up 28% from the previous year.

Egypt’s FDI inflows fell by 13.7% y-o-y to USD9.8 billion in 2023 on the back of a particularly big year for M&As the year previous with “abnormally high project values,” according to the UN Trade and Development’s (UNCTAD). FDI outflows increased 14% y-o-y, coming in at USD390 million in 2023.

An Egyptian bid has been awarded to purchase 17 cargoes of LNG for delivery during the summer, at a premium of USD1.6 to USD1.9 over the standard price of the Dutch gas trading platform.

J.P. Morgan Bank intends to provide EUR156 million funding within days for the project of two monorail lines in the New Administrative Capital.

The EU Ambassador to Egypt announced a new EUR40 million program to support urban development in Egypt.

MFPC and EGCH announced shutting down their plants due to halting natural gas supply until the improvement of the operating conditions of the natural gas network.

Four state-owned firms are set to launch a consortium alongside Triangle Group’s Gama Construction in a USD600 million Joint venture to import liquified ethane gas. The consortium — which is set to launch this month — includes ECHEM, SKPC, Ethydco, and GASCO. The shipments will allow SKPC and Ethydco to meet 100% of their production capacities with the quantities of the shipments estimated to reach around 600k–1 million tons annually.

ORHD opened its new 80-yacht-capacity Fanadir Marina, bringing El Gouna's total yacht capacity to over 680 yachts, making it the largest operator of private marinas in Egypt.

Banque du Caire (BdC) eased its FX credit card limits yesterday, while keeping its FX commission stable at 10%. The move follows COMI, Banque Misr, and the National Bank of Egypt (NBE), who raised their FX limits and, unlike BdC, cut their FX commission in half to 5%.

Spanish renewables developer Ignis Energia, in which HRHO’s energy investment platform Vortex Energy owns an equity stake since 2021, inked a strategic partnership agreement with private equity giant KKR to launch a new platform to produce green hydrogen and green ammonia to power energy-intensive industrial sectors in Spain and other countries.

Egypt food industry exports jumped 34% YoY to a record USD2.1 billion in the first four months of 2024, according to data from the Food Export Council.