M&A WATCH- EFG, Pharos, CI, HC among investment banks facing off to advise on United Bank sale: EFG Hermes, CI Capital, Pharos and HC Securities are among investment banks bidding to become the sell-side adviser on the sale of United Bank, CBE Governor Tarek Amer told Bloomberg on Tuesday. The CBE will select an adviser “in the coming weeks,” Amer said. The selected adviser will determine when the sale will take place, he added. He had said in May that the acquisition of the country’s third-biggest lender should be completed within three months’ time.

Amer encouraging foreign banks to get in on the sale? The sale has to be managed by a local investment bank, but they “can team up with international banks if they need to,” Amer said. Be on the lookout for some interesting partnerships and joint bids going forward.

So how much of the bank is the CBE looking to sell? That will depend on the investor chosen, said Amer. The size of the stake “depends on the value that the investor will bring to the market,”the CBE governor told Bloomberg in London yesterday, adding that it could either be a majority or minority stake. Amer reiterated that a US institution made an offer to acquire United Bank and is currently doing due diligence on the transaction. He did not confirm statements he made last month that the CBE has received new bids from other international institutions. The central bank owns 99.9% of the bank’s shares, having created the institution through the merger of a number of smaller institutions.