CAIRO: The Central Bank of Egypt has approved a joint bid by EFG Hermes and Egypt's Sovereign Fund to buy 76 percent of the Arab Investment Bank.
The deal, worth SR907 million, will see EFG Hermes become the largest shareholder in the bank, with a 51 percent stake.
The Sovereign Fund of Egypt’s Financial Services and Fintech Sub-Fund will own 26 percent.
The EFG Hermes said in a statement to the Egyptian Stock Exchange that the approval of the Central Bank of Egypt was needed to fulfil one of the important conditions of the purchase.
On June 24, EFG Hermes and the Sovereign Fund announced that they had obtained approval from the Board of Directors of the Central Bank of Egypt to start the process of due diligence on the Arab Investment Bank.
The sale of a stake in the Arab Investment Bank, which was established in 1974 with the aim of financing government projects, is part of a program initiated by the government in 2004 to sell its stakes in banks.
