The Central Bank of Egypt has appointed the investment bank affiliated to Barclays Bank to finalize a deal to exit its shareholding in the” United Bank”, as part of the government offering program.
Barclays Bank, as an international financial advisor, will work alongside the local financial advisor ” CA capital “to sell the” United Bank”, whose assets amount to 60 billion pounds (1.9 billion dollars), according to a statement issued by the Central Bank of Egypt.
An official source had said that the government will begin after “Eid al-Fitr” to select an offer from the offers submitted for the acquisition of the bank.
The” United Bank”, owned by the Central Bank of Egypt, is one of the Egyptian banks that Egypt is working on exiting as part of a plan to sell more than 32 state-owned companies, by listing them on the stock exchange or selling shares to strategic investors, or both.
Sources had said earlier that there were talks with the Saudi Public Investment Fund to acquire the “United Bank” for up to 600 million dollars, but the negotiations were stopped earlier due to a disagreement over how to calculate the impact of the devaluation of the Egyptian pound on the deal.
After the talks broke down last February, Egypt requested the appointment of advisers to present the bank to new investors, as the Egyptian central bank sent requests to investment banks to submit offers to act as an adviser to sell the bank.
According to its website, the United Bank, founded in 2006, has 65 branches nationwide and more than 200 ATMs.
Source: Bloomberg
