Event seeks to boost ties between Egyptian companies and South African investors, will continue building Pan-African platform

Cairo/Cape Town, 17 April 2016 - Renaissance Capital, a leading emerging and frontier markets investment bank, is set to hold its inaugural Egypt Corporate Access Day, which will take place in Cape Town, on 20-21 April 2016.

The event offers a unique opportunity for South African investors to meet key decision makers from select high profile companies in Egypt, including from the consumer, manufacturing, banking, real estate and energy sectors. With South African funds recently among the leading foreign investors in Egypt, this exclusive access event is being organised to facilitate further intra-African investment.

Ahmed Badr, Chief Executive Officer, MENA, Renaissance Capital, commented: "The opportunities in Africa, from Egypt to South Africa and the countries which make up the 6,000 kilometres in between, are abundant. At a time when some investment banks have retrenched in Africa, we see a real chance to develop a Pan-African platform, strengthening ties and economic ventures between a number of different nations."

He added: "Egypt is the most popular African investment destination for South African investors, and this event will bring together two economies of similar size, both with promising growth prospects. We have already registered keen appetite from senior fund managers across South Africa to meet senior management representing Egypt's most exciting corporate stories. We believe our event will facilitate high quality meetings between the management of Egyptian companies and some of the top fund managers in South Africa."

Egypt is set to be one of Africa's fastest-growing economies in 2016 according to the IMF, expanding by 3.3%, behind only Kenya's 6% growth among the larger equity markets. Renaissance Capital believes that despite the impact of falling oil prices and lower tourism levels on the country's economy, Egypt's current account should show signs of a turnaround in H2 2016. Assuming the delivery of more currency and fiscal reforms, Egypt can accelerate industrialization and job creation in order to meet optimistic growth forecasts. Please find attached a report from Renaissance Capital which expands upon these findings.  

© Press Release 2016