LONDON: Britain’s Barclays has completed the sale of its Egyptian business to Morocco’s Attijariwafa Bank as part of its shift toward focusing on the US and Britain.
The sale will mean a cut of about 2 billion pounds ($2.55 billion) in Barclays’ risk-weighted assets, it said, boosting the bank’s core capital ratio by about 0.1 percent.
Barclays did not give a price for the transaction, although sources previously said they valued the business at around $400 million.
The London-based lender is seeking to sell its African operations as part of a plan by CEO Jes Staley to simplify its structure and improve shareholder returns.
However, attempts to sell the African businesses as one have come up against difficulties, including the disparate nature of the local units, the biggest of which is Barclays Africa Group , mainly made up of former South African bank ABSA.
Barclays successfully sold a 12 percent chunk of its holding in the South African bank in May, but talks to sell a bigger holding in the business have so far not yielded a deal.
Former Barclays CEO Bob Diamond’s bid to buy Barclays Africa Group as part of a consortium was dealt a blow by the withdrawal of Carlyle Group earlier this year.
Reuters reported Attijariwafa’s interest in March, as the Moroccan lender’s general manager told Reuters he planned to expand in Egypt.
Barclays sells Egyptian business to Morocco bank
Barclays sells Egyptian business to Morocco bank
Closing Bell: Saudi main index closes in red at 10,847
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul All Share Index dipped on Wednesday, losing 58.51 points, or 0.54 percent, to close at 10,847.93.
The total trading turnover of the benchmark index was SR3.78 billion ($1 billion), as 73 of the listed stocks advanced, while 187 retreated.
The MSCI Tadawul Index decreased, down 7.09 points or 0.48 percent, to close at 1,472.98.
The Kingdom’s parallel market Nomu lost 178.75 points, or 0.77 percent, to close at 22,916.83. This comes as 30 of the listed stocks advanced, while 37 retreated.
The best-performing stock was the Power and Water Utility Co. for Jubail and Yanbu, with its share price surging by 8.47 percent to SR31.24.
Other top performers included Saudi Paper Manufacturing Co., which saw its share price rise by 6.13 percent to SR53.70, and Jamjoom Pharmaceuticals Factory Co., which saw a 4.58 percent increase to SR137.
On the downside, the worst performer of the day was CHUBB Arabia Cooperative Insurance Co., whose share price fell by 5.14 percent to SR17.53.
Saudi Kayan Petrochemical Co. and Arabian Internet and Communications Services Co. also saw declines, with their shares dropping by 4.87 percent and 4.43 percent to SR4.88 and SR181.40, respectively.
On the announcement front, Saudi Kayan Petrochemical Co. announced its annual financial results for 2025, with sales dropping 3.06 percent year-on-year to SR8.45 billion. The company also recorded a net loss of SR893.86 million.
In a Tadawul statement, the company said the net loss and decline in annual sales were driven by a drop in average selling prices, despite higher sales volumes.
