Investment Outlook The Government has been working hard to attract more Foreign Direct Investment ( FDI ) into the country. As a result, Egypt has been recognised by the Financial Times as one of the top 5 destinations globally for greenfield FDI and last year Forbes named Cairo one of the top 10 cities in the world to start a tech start-up. The majority of new investment came in the energy, construction and transportation sectors. The Government has announced developments and plans for a number of “mega projects” that were already made available for investment in 2016. These include: a. the new Administrative capital, the first phase of which will be approximately 44.1 square kilometres and have a total construction value of 20 billion Egyptian Pounds (EGP)(equivalent to approximately USD 2.6 billion; b. a new EGP 4.4 billion line for the third phase of the metro, the fourth phase of the metro with a total value of USD 1.2 billion and the first skytrain with a total value of USD 1.5 billion; and c. power plants being finalised by Siemens with a total value of a USD 9 billion (the largest single order in Siemens’ history). The Government has proposed key amendments to investment-related laws for more than 2 years and has succeeded in obtaining Parliamentary approval of a number of new key laws such as the Industrial Licences Law, the VAT Law and the Food Safety Law. Forms of Corporate Structure There are a number of laws governing business activities and transactions in Egypt including, among others, the Trade Code, the Companies Law, the Executive Regulation, the Investment Law, and the Commercial Registry Law. Non-Egyptians may set up a Representative Office in Egypt for the purpose of studying the Egyptian market and/or potentials of production. However, representative offices are not allowed to trade in Egypt. There are a number of laws governing business activities and transactions in Egypt including, among others, the Trade Code, the Companies Law, the Executive Regulation, the Investment Law, and the Commercial Registry Law.
Non-Egyptians may set up a Representative Office in Egypt for the purpose of studying the Egyptian market and/or potentials of production. However, representative offices are not allowed to trade in Egypt. The Companies Law and Trade Code provide for several legal forms of businesses similar to those available in North Africa and Europe, these include: • A Branch of foreign company, which is commonly used to performworks of contractual nature. • A Joint Stock Company, which resembles a U.S. corporation or a French société anonyme . • A Limited Liability Company, which corresponds to the French société à responsibilité limitée (S.A.R.L.). It is like an incorporated partnership, a U.S. closed corporation or a British private limited company. Egyptian law does not recognise the concept of piercing the corporate veil and, therefore, the liability of shareholders in joint stock companies or allotment holders in limited liability companies is only limited to the paid-up capital. Incorporation Procedure 1
Approximate cost (EGP/USD ) 2 EGP 25 (approx. USD 1.38) EGP 25 (approx. USD 1.38) From EGP 100 (approx.. USD 5.52) to EGP 500 (approx. USD 27.60)
Item
Time
1 Issuance of a non-
One hour
confusion certificate for the company
2 Opening bank account One hour
3 Issuance of a bank
1-3 business days
certificate confirming the deposit of the issued capital or the required percentage (as the case may be)
4 Incorporation application 5 Notarisation of the corporate documents 6 Registration with the Commercial Registrar
These three steps can be made in one step only by using
1 day
From EGP 1,716 (approx. USD 94.90) to EGP 49,565 (approx. USD 2741.11). USD 2741.11
EGP 2,000 (approx. USD 110.61) 3
1 day
1 day
1 day
the VIP
1 Cost and timeframe are based on typical experiences for the incorporation of limited liability companies. These will vary depending on the specifics of each incorporation and may not be relevant for highly regulated sectors. 2 The USD value is based on the average exchange rate declared by the Central Bank of Egypt on March 21, 2017. Please refer to this hyperlink for further information regarding the declared exchange rates, http://www.cbe.org.eg/en/EconomicResearch/Statistics/Pages/ExchangeRatesListing.aspx 3 This amount shall only be paid if the client is interested in the VIP incorporation services.
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