Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank and Emirates International Investment Company (EIIC) offered 310 million Egyptian pounds ($54 million) on Tuesday for full control of Egypt’s National Bank for Development.
They said in a published announcement that their offer – 11 pounds a share for all of the bank’s 28.192 million shares – would be valid for 20 working days starting on Wednesday.
The takeover will go through as long as they receive offers which amount to a little over 51% of the bank’s equity, they said.
The Abu Dhabi bank and EIIC made an identical but informal offer for the Egyptian bank in April but negotiations languished when the Egyptian government, which owns 17.86 percent of NBD, declined to sell at that price.
The central bank official who was handling the government’s stake was not immediately available on Tuesday to say whether the government had changed its mind.
But even at that stage shareholders holding at least 53% of NBD’s equity had agreed to sell at the price of 11 pounds a share, an official said.
The price was about one third of what NBD shares were worth before the shareholders tried to sell the bank in April in an auction in which the Emirates consortium was the only bidder.
National Bank for Development is one Egypt’s smaller banks and has made losses in recent years. Eighteen of its branches already operate under Islamic banking regulations.
But it is one of the few banks which have not change hands in recent years during a major upheaval in the banking system.
Foreign banks are keen to operate in the Egyptian banking market but the central bank has restricted the number of licences available, making takeovers the only way to move in.
European banks have been especially active in the retail sector, led by Credit Agricole and Societe Generale of France, Sanpaolo of Italy and Piraeus Bank of Greece. Lebanese banks have also moved in.
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