Egypt-based investment bank EFG Hermes is nearing to acquire Pakistan's listed brokerage house Invest & Finance Securities Ltd (IFSL), said Mohamed Ebeid, EFG Co-Head of Securities Brokerage, on Monday. EFG Hermes has launched its 13th annual One on One Conference, considered the largest investor conference in the Middle East and North Africa, takes place in Dubai. "For the first time, frontier companies are front and center at the One on One as we complete our transformation from the leading investment bank in the MENA region into a full frontier house," said Ebeid. "As we speak, we are concluding our acquisition of a brokerage house in Pakistan and have launched execution capabilities for frontier Asia, offering our clients access to Pakistan, Vietnam, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. That execution capability is backed by a dedicated team and will be served by our existing offices in Cairo and Dubai as well as our soon-to-open New York office." "As we continue to build out our Asia-focused operations with both new products and a new research platform, we are also very mindful of the exceptional opportunities to create new shareholder value through a direct presence in one or more market in sub-Saharan Africa." Ebeid added. Earlier, EFG Hermes announced in March 2016 plans to acquire approximately 51 percent of Invest & Finance Securities Ltd, a listed company on the Karachi Stock Exchange with a total shareholders' equity of $1.9 million. IFSL provides financial brokerage, corporate finance and financial research, and has offices/branches in Karachi and Lahore in Pakistan.
