Subscription to the Egyptian Arab Land Bank's (EALB) investment fund has started on Thursday after receiving approvals from the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) and Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority (EFSA). The fund has capital of EGP 50 million and may be increased during the subscription period. Abdel Megid Mohy El-Din, deputy chairman of EALB, stated that the fund aims at investing in fixed income instruments including treasury bills and bonds and deposits. The fund will be managed by Alpha Asset Management, he added. The bank's corporate investments reached EGP 1 billion diversified in real estate, tourism, insurance and medical companies. He revealed that the bank targets to disinvest from some companies, when the market recovers to be able to conduct good deals. Mohy El-Din added that the bank plans to dispose of its non-performing loan portfolio within the next two years. The bank succeeded in settling bad debt worth EGP 125 million owed by the businessman Magdi Yacoub after acquiring some of his real estate assets. The bank plans to develop its real estate assets worth EGP 2.4 billion through dealing with real estate companies and then sold them, or through launching real estate investment fund.
