Here are Top US Companies Operating in Egypt

By: Taarek Refaat

Egyptian President Abdel- Fattah el-Sisi began on Monday a three days tour to Washington, asserting Egypt’s keenness on strengthening its strategic partnership with the US in various fields, including security and stability in the middle east.

One of the most successful tools of diplomacy is enhancing relations between countries through strengthening economies ties and commerce.

According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, American Foreign direct investment (FDI) reached $ 22.2 billion in Egypt as of 2018, serving 38.6 percent of investments directed to Africa.

"Egypt is the biggest recipient of US direct investments in the continent and second in the middle east after the United Arab Emirates (UAE)," the department stated.

The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) announced that the U.S. was the third largest investor in Egypt during the fiscal year 2017-2018, following the United Kingdom and Belgium.

The U.S. investments amounted for 9.2 percent of the total investment in the country with an estimated value of $ 1.8 billion, twice the preceding fiscal year's estimates.

Meanwhile, U.S. companies operating in Egypt reported combined revenue of $ 376.0 million.

[caption id="attachment_44596" align="aligncenter" width="500"]                       Logos of most iconic US Brands[/caption]

Top US Companies Operating in Egypt:

Since 1993, US oil and gas exploration Company Apache entered the Egyptian market and is currently considered one of the largest American investors in the country with a total value of $17 billion. Apache was ahead of all oil producers and among the top gas producers in the fiscal year 2017-2018.

ExxonMobil, IPR TransOil, Halliburton, and Merlon are among the other US Oil companies operating in the country.

The assets of non-oil investments amounted to $2.59 billion in 2018, pided between 1,268 US companies, representing a 9.8 percent increase in capital with 46 new US companies that joined the Egyptian market recently.

Financial services bear the biggest share of all non-oil investments, estimated at 41 percent. Financial corporations include Visa, American Express, MasterCard, etc.

The manufacturing sector stands as the second biggest sector with more than a quarter of all US non-oil investments in Egypt at 34.1 percent.

The most prominent U.S. investors in this sector include General Motors, Heinz, Coca-Cola, 3M, Pepsi, Pfizer, Procter & Gamble, Xerox, General Electric, Johnson & Johnson, and American Automotive.

In addition, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Alcatel-Lucent, and Cisco are among the top US companies operating in the information technology and communication sectors (ICT), accounting for 1.7 percent of U.S. investments in the country.

US companies operating in the services sector include health, education, commercial services, and consultancies. The sector contributes to 17 percent of all non-oil investments, while the construction sector contributes to 3.9 percent.

The fast-food market in Egypt is mainly dominated by US franchises including Cinnabon, Pizza Hut, Chilis, T.G.I. Friday’s, Hardees, Baskin-Robbins, KFC, McDonald’s, Starbucks and Burger King.