Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, Public Investment Fund (PIF) is in advanced talks to acquire Egypt's state-owned United Bank in a deal worth around $600 million, people with knowledge of the matter told Bloomberg on Monday. The $620 billion PIF deal would carry out the acquisition process through its Saudi Egyptian Investment Co. unit, people added, asking not to be identified as the discussions are private. An agreement may be finalised as soon as this month, they said. However, they noted that the final terms are still being agreed. Aiming to provide financial support to countries in the region as it looks to bolster allies and cement new relationships, Saudi Arabia has pledged for Egypt $10 billion of investments in sectors such as health care, education and agriculture. The Kingdom already bought state-owned stakes in four Egyptian publicly-listed companies for $1.3 billion and deposited $5 billion in the country's central bank. Saudi Finance Minister Mohammed Al Jadaan said his country has started "investing aggressively in Egypt" and will continue "to look at investment opportunities and that is more important than deposits. Deposits can be pulled but investments stay," he added. Founded in 2006, the United Bank has 65 branches nationwide and more than 200 ATMs, according to its website.
