CAIRO: After months of waiting, Cairo-based investment bank EFG-Hermes on Monday said they had been given a license to operate and set up an office in Syria. According to the statement from the company, the licenses are for advisory and corporate finance, research, securities brokerage and asset management. It does not include underwriting. “EFG Hermes is currently establishing EFG Hermes Syria L.L.C. with a paid-in capital equivalent to 5 million dollars in order to begin operations on the Syrian market as soon as possible,” the statement said. According to the investment bank, it will open a branch in Syria and launch a private equity fund of some $250 million to “take advantage of recent Syrian liberalization measures.” It has already sold 28 percent of its stake in Lebanon's Bank Audi for some $900 million this year after it failed to increase its holding in the bank. According to the statement form the company, the Syrian operation will be a partnership with leading Syrian businessman Firas Tlass, who will own 30 percent of the stake in the country. HC Securities and Investment, another Cairo-based firm, also received a license to operate in Syria this past February and Pioneers Holding set up an office via a Syrian affiliate in 2007. BM