The Central Bank of Egypt's (CBE) board has approved the starting of the due diligence inspection process of the EFG Hermes and Egypt's Sovereign Fund (ESF) that aims at acquiring the Arab Investment Bank (AIB), EFG Hermes announced in a statement on Wednesday. The fund and EGF Hermes plan to acquire 76 percent of the AIB's capital through subscribing for increasing its share and paid capital with a probability of purchasing a limited number of the shares owned by the main investor in the bank, which is the National Investment Bank (NIB).
In case the deal is finalised, EFG Hermes will possess not less than 51 percent, the fund not less than 25 percent of the AIB capital, while the NIB will preserve the remainder of shares, according to the statement.
CEO of the fund Ayman Soliman stated that the partnership with EFG Hermes comes under the fund's plan that aims at cooperating with the private sector in order to invest in the promising sectors, especially the banking and digital transformation sectors.
He added that Egypt's banking sector enjoys competitiveness capabilities that qualify it to expand regionally and in Africa.
CEO of EFG Hermes Karim Awad said his company adopts a strategy that aims to turn the AIB to a universal bank that can extend all banking and non-banking services.
