The Egyptian financial group Hermes Holding announced Wednesday its plans to acquire, with the Egyptian sovereign fund, a share of not less than 76% of the capital of the Arab Investment Bank, mostly through subscription to the increase in the issued and paid-up capital of the bank.
Hermes said in a press statement that it obtained with the Fund the approval of the Central Bank "to start the process of negating the unknown of the Arab Investment Bank."
It stressed that it is possible with the fund to purchase a limited number of shares owned by the bank’s current major shareholder, the National Investment Bank.
Hermes noted that if the deal is completed, it will become the owner of no less than 51 percent of the Arab Investment Bank, while Egypt's sovereign fund will own at least 25 percent, while the National Investment Bank and the Union of Arab Republics retain the remaining percentage.
It said that the completion of the acquisition depends on several factors, including "completing the process of negating the ignorance in a satisfactory manner for the buyers, agreeing between the different parties on the contracts related to the process and obtaining the final approvals from the Central Bank of Egypt."
