Banque Misr’s EGP 3.06 bn acquisition of 65% of CI Capital went through today, after completing a mandatory tender offer that saw the sale of 652.8 mn shares at EGP 4.7 per share, the EGX announced in a bulletin today. The MTO was reportedly 1.1x oversubscribed when it closed last Thursday, with shareholders agreeing to sell some 720.8 mn shares. Banque Misr, which already held a 24.7% stake in CI Capital before the transaction, now owns 90% of the company, with the remaining 100 mn shares remaining in freefloat on the EGX. CI Capital’s shares stayed flat during trading today, closing at EGP 4.29 per share.

Banque Misr had announced it was targeting a stake in CI Capital early last month, and launched its MTO days later. CI Capital had originally rejected Banque Misr’s offer price, saying it undervalued the company by around 20%, following which Banque Misr said it had no plans to hike its offer.

The acquisition is the latest in a trend of state-owned banks buying out private investment banks.The acquisition of Pharos by NBE’s Ahly Capital in late 2019 in an EGP 120 mn transaction kicked off the M&A spate, and was followed by the and of Bank Audi’s Arabeya Online brokerage by NI Capital in late 2020.