Egypt’s SWF to Create Investment Opportunities for Private Sector

Egypt’s SWF to create investment opportunities for private sector, partners with NSPO to launch IPOs: Planning minister.

Minister of Planning and Economic Development Hala El-Said stated that Egypt’s sovereign wealth fund’s (SWF) creation came as part of the state’s plan to achieve the sustainable development goals that are a part of Egypt’s vision for 2030.

El-Said made her statements during a press roundtable held on Wednesday with senior writers and journalists in the presence of Egypt’s SWF CEO Ayman Soliman, in order to expound on the fund’s goals and the main features of the law that created it.

El-Said said that it was important to establish a robust entity that can help in increasing investments and diversifying financing resources through establishing partnerships with domestic and global institutions, as well as making use of the state’s assets and resources for the sake of maximising their value, pushing the country’s development forward.

She added that Egypt’s SWF aims to tap the state’s unused assets as well as attain sustainable fiscal surpluses through designing unique investment products to invest in.

It also targets attaining sustainable financial proceeds over the long-term depending on a diversified and balanced portfolio that sets balance between revenues and risks, said the minister.

“Egypt’s SWF seeks to make positive social and economic impacts concerning investment. It will achieve its goals using a special portfolio that consists of Egypt’s assets that could be shifted to convenient products that can attract investors.

These products can also encourage global, regional, and domestic investors to invest in Egypt’s high-priority sectors, therefor generating wealth and developing current and new projects,” according to El-Said.

Proactively, the fund allocates the state’s usable assets and cooperates with investors as well as operators for the sake of designing investment structures that meet their requirements and their venture measures, said El-Said.

The minister also pointed out the fund’s investment plan’s priorities that include maximising the state’s assets’ revenues, localising manufacturing and technology, and attracting local and international investors.

She added that the fund has managed to attract investors from inside and outside the Egyptian market and it inked partnership agreements despite the ongoing economic challenges.

On the domestic level, El-Said noted that the fund signed two investment cooperation agreements in November with Egypt’s Public Business Sector Ministry and the National Investment Bank that aim to tap their assets and inject private investments into them.

In addition to that, the fund inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Hassan Allam Holding Company in order to pump joint direct and indirect investments to establish projects in electricity, water, infrastructure, and renewable energy sectors.

Moreover, it brokered a cooperation deal with the National Service Products Organisation in February, through which the fund became a partner to invest in the assets owned by the organisation, according to the minister.

El-Said highlighted the role the state is playing in supporting investment and the business environment especially in times of crises through creating entities that are capable of competing with the aim of increasing the country’s productive capabilities and providing the citizens’ needs.

In this regard, El-Said illustrated that Safi Waters and Wataniya Petroleum Company, which are both owned by the National Service Products Organisation, will be open to private sector investment soon as part of the first phase and then will be offered in the Egyptian bourse where all Egyptians can invest in them.

She added that the fund will continue to cooperate with the organisation to open more of the companies it owns to private sector investing under rules and conditions that achieve high revenues for Egypt’s state and create real investment opportunities for the private sector.

Regionally, the minister said that Egypt has established an investment platform with Abu Dhabi Holding, worth $20 million, to establish joint investments in a varied collection of sectors including processing industries, traditional and renewable energy, real-estate, foodstuffs, tourism, healthcare, logistics, and financial services.

Globally, El-Said noted that the fund signed a MoU with Actis Long-life in January on the sidelines of the UK-Africa investment summit that targeted establishing joint investment in energy and infrastructure areas.