US embassy cable - 05CAIRO3147

UNCLAS CAIRO 003147 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NEA/ELA, NEA/RA, AND EB/IFD 
TREASURY FOR MILLS/NUGENT/PETERS 
USAID FOR ANE/MEA MCCLOUD 
COMMERCE FOR 4520/ITA/MAC/ANESA/TALAAT 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON, EFIN, EAID, EG, Banking Sector 
SUBJECT: EGYPTIAN AMERICAN BANK:  BOARD OF DIRECTORS 
APPROVES SALE 
 
REF: CAIRO 2967 
 
1.  (C) The Board of Directors of the Egyptian American Bank 
(EAB) met last week to approve the sale of EAB to a strategic 
investor, as reported in reftel. 
According to EAB General Manager Roderick Richards, the Bank 
of Alexandria (BOA) was instructed by the Central Bank of 
Egypt (CBE) to sell its 33.8 percent stake in EAB as part of 
the preparation for BOA's privatization.  American Express 
Bank, the other major EAB shareholder with a 40.8 percent 
stake, did not want to become the minority stakeholder in the 
bank with a new strategic investor, thus prompting the 
decision to sell EAB in its entirety.  According to Richards, 
EAB management, working through an investment bank advisor, 
will ask potential purchasers to buy 100% of the bank.  This 
means potential purchasers will have to offer a price 
attractive to the holders of the bank's freely traded shares 
(approximately 25 percent).  Richards did not anticipate 
difficulty finding a purchaser to offer a bid for 100% of the 
bank, as EAB is "the strongest bank operating in Egypt." 
 
2. (C)  Richards mentioned that one possible scenario for the 
sale of EAB is purchase by a regional bank from the Gulf.  He 
suggested an offer might be received from one of the banks 
owned by the Government of Abu Dhabi, which has expressed 
interest in investing $1 billion in Egypt.  When asked 
whether the current management of the bank would stay on, he 
hedged a bit, replying the any purchaser would be "foolish" 
to remove the bank's current management, as it has made EAB 
one of the top performing bank in the Egyptian banking sector. 
 
3.  (SBU)  Comment:  In addition to the sale of EAB, several 
other deals have recently been concluded by joint venture 
banks.  The Arab African International Bank announced plans 
to merge with Misr America International Bank and the 
National Bank of Egypt announced plans to acquire Mohandes 
Bank.  The investment firm handling the sale of the 28.6% 
public share of Misr International Bank also recently 
announced that it would be soliciting offers for the shares 
from Arab and international financial institutions.  The 
banking sector appears to be acting quickly to meet the 
directives of the CBE regarding divesting public shares in 
joint venture banks.  The outcome of EAB's sale will provide 
a good indication of international investors' assessment of 
the future potential of Egypt's banking sector. 
 
 
Visit Embassy Cairo's Classified Website: 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/cairo 
 
You can also access this site through the 
State Department's Classified SIPRNET website. 
 
GRAY