From His New Shelter, ‘Fugitive’ Heikal Encourages Investment In Egypt

Arab world’s premier investment bank EFG-Hermes (HRHO.CA) is getting into a state of paradox. EFG-Hermes CEOs are facing market capital manipulation charges due to concluding some deals mainly of Al Watany Bank of Egypt (AWB) with Alaa and Gamal Mubarak.

The state of paradox is shown when EFG-Hermes CEO Hassan Heikal who is placed on an airport watch list so as to be arrested upon his return to join the ousted president Hosni Mubarak’s sons and 6 other defendants, prefers to flee the country and making visits so as to conclude further deals.  Heikal is making visits starting from Dubai to Qatar then to London seeking to conclude new deals without taking into consideration for his current legal situation. Nobody knows where Heikal settles in fact, but the most sensible answer can be Qatar; its current partner and ally.

London is shown now to be Heikal’s most recent journey or in other words his new “shelter”. In London,  EFG-Hermes is holding its two-day second MENA Conference which started on Thursday for the purpose of boosting the foreign investment in the MENA region and presenting the available investment opportunities in Egypt so as to allure new investors alongside supporting the national economy.

A former minister in Ganzouri’s government, preferred not to mention his name, described the conference’s ‘touching’ goals “as lacking credibility”.  The Egypt’s Investment Ministry is assigned to achieve these goals and to present such plans, the former minister added.

The former minister explained that  the Egyptian Minister Osama Saleh had already presented such goals and plans through Euromoney Conference held last October and also through his continuous meetings with various investors from different countries.

The former minister further stated that EFG-Hermes has held the conference at this time for a personal interest that can be achieved through two matters. The first matter is through strongly appearing in front of the public opinion, although its CEOs had been referred to the criminal court on profiteering accusations. Also it reveals to the Egyptian government that it has huge international investing relations by which it can attract investment and investors; in a way makes the government needs it, but the current government refuses this.

The second concern is that EFG-Hermes seeks to make use of any investor enters to the Middle East in general and to Egypt in particular, through playing the role of “mediator”; the financial and technical advisor for the investor till getting to know the Egyptian market. Thus, EFG-Hermes continues to play the same previous role, without any changes.

EFG-Hermes has made a success in the last period because of its relationships with the former regime’s figures, he said, adding that the list of speakers of EFG-Hermes One-on-One Conference held in 2008 in Sharm El-Sheikh had included the former head of the Policies Secretariat at the dissolved National Democratic Party Gamal Mubarak, former Minister of Investment Mahmoud Mohieddin and former Minister of Finance Boutros Ghali.

Nadi Azzam, financial analyst at El Horreya Securities Brokerage Company, wondered how EFG-Hermes quitted some its businesses in Egypt for a Qatari investor and then calls on foreigners to invest in the country.

One of the main targets of investment banks is to attract investments to the country, but EFG-Hermes sells its assets in the Egyptian market and then wants to appear as if it attracts investments to the country, Azzam noted.

Exerting efforts to attract foreign investments to the country in the current period will not be fruitful because of the uncertainty about the economic situation that stemmed from many reasons such as the conflicting official statements about the International Monetary Fund’s loan, he affirmed.

Sources at the General Authority for Investment (GAFI) criticized EFG-Hermes for holding such conference in the current period, especially after it has been involved in many corruption cases such as achieving illegal profits through the sale of Al Watany Bank of Egypt.