CAIRO: Egypt s central bank aims to sell majority stakes in two commercial banks by the end of 2011, governor Farouk El-Okdah said on Wednesday. The governor told a news conference that United Bank should be floated in 2011, and that a majority stake in Arab African International Bank would be listed in the same year. There are negotiations ... to put 60 percent [of Arab African] on the stock market, Okdah said. The central bank owns almost all of United Bank, which was formed in 2006 from the merger of a number of smaller banks. It owns around 49 percent of Arab African and the Kuwait Investment Authority owns a similar share. Okdah said he would like to offer Arab African on both the Egyptian and Kuwaiti exchanges. He also said he would prefer United to be offered via the stock exchange. Okdah said any public listing for the banks would be subject to market conditions and he did not have a specific structure in mind for the proposed sales.
