CAIRO – 27 February 2024: Qatar Islamic Bank and Kuwait Finance House (KFH) have completed their due diligence on the United Bank, which is owned by the Central Bank of Egypt, according to sources cited by Asharq Bloomberg.
This evaluation is in preparation for one of the banks to acquire it, with preference given to the bank offering the higher price.
Sources suggest that the value of the acquisition could reach approximately LE 22 billion, according to sources. Another source explained that the sale of the United Bank to a strategic investor has become imminent, and the closest one to it is Qatar Islamic Bank, due to its desire to enter the Egyptian market.
However, the inability of one of the competitors to finalize the agreement has posed challenges in determining the exchange rate between the Egyptian pound and the U.S. dollar.
It is still uncertain whether the agreed price will be based on the official exchange rate set by the Central Bank, the prevailing rate in the parallel market, or an average between the two.
This acquisition is part of Egypt's initial public offering (IPO) strategy, which aims to attract foreign currency through the offering of shares from 35 state-owned companies.
These shares are made available to strategic investors, the public through the Egyptian Stock Exchange, or a combination of both, as outlined in a government policy document.
According to the Minister of Finance, Mohamed Maait, Egypt aims to generate $6.5 billion from its IPO program in 2024.
In line with this goal, the Egyptian government had previously announced in August 2023, through the Cabinet's Information and Decision Support Center (IDSC), its intention to collect $5 billion by offering shares of select state-owned companies to strategic investors between October 2023 and the end of June 2024.
Comments
Leave a Comment