TODAY: UK’s Actis is reportedly close to acquiring a 580 MW wind farm in Egypt
Good morning, friends. We have a brisk issue with you this morning with some big stories making waves in the regional climate industry.
THE BIG CLIMATE STORY- Taqa Arabia’s shares rose almost 4,000% on its second day of trading on Egypt’s bourse yesterday, with a large block transaction involving the sale of EGP 3.7 bn worth of shares by the company’s largest shareholder, Silverstone Capital Investments, to existing shareholders including Financial Holdings Investments, and Rimco EGT Investments.
^^ We have the details on this story and much more in the news well, below.
THE BIG CLIMATE STORY OUTSIDE THE REGION- There’s no single climate story dominating international headlines this morning, but US President Joe Biden met with King Charles III for the first time since the latter’s coronation to discuss climate change during a brief stop in Britain. Biden, along with the British monarch, met with executives and philanthropists to discuss climate finance for the world’s poorest countries. “We had several USD tns of assets that are managed and deployed represented in the group that met today, all people who are deeply committed to dealing with the climate crisis,” US Special Envoy for Climate John Kerry, who attended the meeting, said.
The Windsor Castle meeting got coverage from the international press: Reuters | Bloomberg | The Financial Times | The Guardian | CNN | The Associated Press | The New York Times | The Washington Post
MARK YOUR CALENDARS- The Enterprise Finance Forum is taking place on 18-19 September at the St. Regis Hotel in Cairo. This flagship forum is the latest in our must-attend series of invitation-only, C-suite-level gatherings that allow senior members of our community to openly and frankly discuss critical issues in key sectors of the economy.
Day one is our Banking Forum, where we’ll dive deep into topics of interest to commercial and investment bankers, from an outlook on the 12 months to come in M&A, IPO, and debt capital markets to the national, regional, and global trends that are (re)shaping our industry.
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WATCH THIS SPACE #1- UAE’s Al Abjan solar farm will be awarded by year end: The Emirates Water and Electricity Company (Ewec) is set to award and execute the power purchase agreement for its 1.5 GW Al Ajban solar IPP project by 4Q 2023, according to a statement. Ewec has received four bids from Saudi renewables giant Acwa Power, France’s EDF Renewables, Japan’s Marubeni Corporation, and a consortium comprising Jinko Power and Jera for the development of the solar plant.
About the plant: Al Ajban — Ewec’s third solar power project — is expected to generate enough electricity to power c. 160k homes across the country, according to the statement. It is set to raise Ewec’s total solar power capacity to c. 4 GW and slash Abu Dhabi’s carbon dioxide emissions by up to 2.4 mn tons annually.
WATCH THIS SPACE #2- KSA is scoping out Germany’s waste management sector: Invest Saudi, KSA’s national investment platform, is reviewing potential investments in Germany’s waste and water management sector, Arab News reports. This review of investment ventures in Berlin, Hamburg, and Dusseldorf kicked off yesterday for a five-day period. The event will involve workshops and meetings to explore unlocking potential investments in both countries’ waste management sectors.
WATCH THIS SPACE #3- OCI is banking big on blue ammonia: Dutch fertilizer manufacturer OCI is constructing a USD 1 bn blue ammonia production plant in Texas, Reuters reports. While the project has yet to secure a single offtake agreement, the large-scale facility will generate 1.1 mn tons of blue ammonia annually once operational in 2025.
Why the US? Blue ammonia production methods cost approximately USD 119 more per ton than conventional ammonia generation technologies, so OCI is benefiting from subsidies under the USD 369 Inflation Reduction Act, as well as premium payments from Asian utility firms to render the project economically feasible, the newswire notes.
A first for ammonia production: The US plant would be the first commercial facility globally to capture and store 95% of the emissions produced from ammonia production, Reuters writes.
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CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-
Thailand will host the second workshop on addressing loss and damage from Saturday, 15 July to Sunday, 16 July in Bangkok. The workshop will see discussions on pathways to increasing funding for climate-induced loss and damage. The workshop is being held in preparation for the third meeting of the COP27 Transitional Committee in August. The committee is tasked with operationalizing the Loss and Damage Fund, to be approved during the fourth transitional meeting in October.
Egypt will host the Egypt Mining Forum from Tuesday, 18 July to Wednesday, 19 July in Cairo. The event — organized by the country’s Oil Ministry — will gather regional players as well as global mining firms in a bid to attract regional and foreign direct investments in the country’s mining industry.
Check out our full calendar on the web for a comprehensive listing of upcoming news events and news triggers.