Back to the complete issue
Sunday, 17 January 2021

Bank ABC wins bid for Blom Egypt

Bahrain’s Bank ABC will purchase the Egypt unit of Lebanon’s Blom Bank for USD 480 mn in a transaction that includes the bank’s physical and non-physical assets and customer accounts, Reuters reports, citing unnamed banking sources. The Bahraini bank already has a presence in Egypt with Bank ABC Egypt, in which it owns a 93% stake, according to its website.

Five months in the making: Rumors that Bank ABC was interested in Blom hit the local press in August, just a couple of weeks after the Lebanese bank confirmed that it was looking to leave Egypt. After several months of speculation about whether fellow GCC lender Emirates NBD would compete for the acquisition, ABC said in December that it was in exclusive talks to acquire the Lebanese bank’s 99.42% share in its Egypt business.

Keep an eye out for: First Abu Dhabi Bank’s potential USD 700 mn acquisition of Bank Audi Egypt, which has been in the works since the two resumed negotiations in September that had been stalled because of covid-19.

Made in Lebanon: Both Blom and Bank Audi are exiting Egypt due to a near-collapse of the Lebanese financial system. Years of reckless lending left the banking sector paralysed after protests in late 2019 triggered a run on the LBP and capital flight.

Enterprise is a daily publication of Enterprise Ventures LLC, an Egyptian limited liability company (commercial register 83594), and a subsidiary of Inktank Communications. Summaries are intended for guidance only and are provided on an as-is basis; kindly refer to the source article in its original language prior to undertaking any action. Neither Enterprise Ventures nor its staff assume any responsibility or liability for the accuracy of the information contained in this publication, whether in the form of summaries or analysis. © 2022 Enterprise Ventures LLC.

Enterprise is available without charge thanks to the generous support of HSBC Egypt (tax ID: 204-901-715), the leading corporate and retail lender in Egypt; EFG Hermes (tax ID: 200-178-385), the leading financial services corporation in frontier emerging markets; SODIC (tax ID: 212-168-002), a leading Egyptian real estate developer; SomaBay (tax ID: 204-903-300), our Red Sea holiday partner; Infinity (tax ID: 474-939-359), the ultimate way to power cities, industries, and homes directly from nature right here in Egypt; CIRA (tax ID: 200-069-608), the leading providers of K-12 and higher level education in Egypt; Orascom Construction (tax ID: 229-988-806), the leading construction and engineering company building infrastructure in Egypt and abroad; Moharram & Partners (tax ID: 616-112-459), the leading public policy and government affairs partner; Palm Hills Developments (tax ID: 432-737-014), a leading developer of commercial and residential properties; Mashreq (tax ID: 204-898-862), the MENA region’s leading homegrown personal and digital bank; Industrial Development Group (IDG) (tax ID:266-965-253), the leading builder of industrial parks in Egypt; Hassan Allam Properties (tax ID:  553-096-567), one of Egypt’s most prominent and leading builders; and Saleh, Barsoum & Abdel Aziz (tax ID: 220-002-827), the leading audit, tax and accounting firm in Egypt.