Turkiye Is Bankasi A.S. has finalized the due diligence process that began last April aiming at evaluating Piraeus Bank-Egypt before the acquisition, sources told Amwal Al Ghad. The Turkish bank mulls the acquisition of Piraeus Bank after recognizing the positive and negative aspects. If the lender decided to acquire Piraeus Bank's arm in Egypt, Is Bankasi is expected to offer its purchasing bid in the upcoming months and a deal is predicted to be signed before the end of the current year, sources added. Is Bankasi was selected last April by Central Bank of Egypt from five banks to conduct due diligence. Parent Piraeus Bank in Greece earlier selected Barclays Capital as a financial consultant to sell its unit in Egypt, as part of its efforts towards getting the required liquidity to overcome the Greek debt crisis and its implications on the bank. Barclays Capital prepared a memorandum of information for offering Piraeus Bank Egypt for sale last March. Is Bankasi was chosen because of its strong position in the Turkish market, strong solvency level and clear strategic vision about expansion in Egypt on Turkish government's encouragement for investors to expand in Egypt. The Turkish lender established its representative office in Cairo in 2009, being the third largest international branch. The bank currently operates more than 1000 branches in Turkey, a branch in London, a representative office in Shanghai in China and subsidiary offices and branches in Germany, France, Netherlands, Switzerland and Gulf countries.
