M&A WATCH- CBE green-lights First Abu Dhabi Bank due diligence on Bank Audi: The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) has given the go-ahead to First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB) to conduct due diligence on Bank Audi’s Egypt arm ahead of a potential acquisition, unnamed sources were quoted by Masrawy as saying. FAB requested approval to begin its formal evaluation earlier this week.

Background: FAB was one of three banks that expressed interest in buying the unit, after it emerged that Bank Audi was looking to exit the country amid the ongoing banking crisis in Lebanon. The bank initially denied reports that it was looking to sell, but CFO Tamer Ghazaleh later confirmed that the bank was in fact considering pulling out of the country. This came just a few months after the Lebanese bank looked close to acquiring the National Bank of Greece’s (NBG) Egypt arm.