Following the finalisation of Beltone's acquisition of CI Capital, the companies will acquire an electronic brokerage company in Egypt, said business tycoon Naguib Sawiris during a conference held by the American Chamber of Commerce. He noted that a specific brokerage company is targeted, but refused to disclose its name. He stated, however, that the size of the company is "small, not big". During the conference, Sawiris addressed the CI Capital-Beltone merger, saying that the market was divided into one major player, referring to EFG Hermes, and other small and medium players. "So the big players would always be the first choice," Sawiris said, explaining that by finalising this merger, another major player was added to the market. "Combining the two companies will provide a larger client base, allowing more services to be offered to clients," the business tycoon said. On what the future holds for the companies after the merger, Sawiris said the companies are "going into microfinance", adding that there is also an interest to expand regionally, and even globally. On an individual level, the businessman submitted an application to establish a €50m bank for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Luxembourg. Sawiris weighed in on the diminishing value of the Egyptian pound against the US dollar, characterising the crisis as the shortage of the dollar, rather than the declining value of the pound. "If there was no shortage of dollars, the value of the pound would not drop," he said, highlighting that the problem lies in how the crisis is being dealt with. "We [CBE] can't keep on saying that the value of pound against the dollar is EGP 7.70," Sawiris said. "The market is the one that sets the value of the dollar, not me or you." Commenting on the exit of Barclays bank from the Egyptian market, Sawiris described the decision as off the mark. He however added that such decisions tip in the favour of firms such as CI Capital and Beltone.
