Standard Chartered, Samba out of Egypt bank bid

KICKED OUT: Standard Chartered and Samba Financial Group have been disqualified from bidding for a stake in Egypt's Banque du Caire. (Getty Images)

Standard Chartered and Samba Financial Group have been disqualified from bidding for a stake in Egypt's Banque du Caire, leaving three bidders remaining, a banking official said on Wednesday.

"Samba and Standard Chartered were disqualified," Ali Al Seedy, a Banque du Caire board member, told newswire Reuters. "Three are still bidding." He gave no reason.

The Egyptian government has said it expects the sale of up to 67 percent of the bank to raise at least $1.6 billion, making it the largest privatisation in Egypt since the sale of Bank of Alexandria in 2006.

UK-based Standard Chartered and Saudi Arabia's Samba were among five banks shortlisted to conduct due diligence on Banque du Caire in March.

The other banks bidding are National Bank of Greece, Dubai's Mashreqbank, and a consortium of Saudi Arabia's Arab National Bank and its Jordanian affiliate Arab Bank Group.

The winner in the auction will be announced at a news conference at about 1:00 pm (1000 GMT) on Wednesday, a bank official said.

Banque du Caire, the third-largest state-owned bank with total assets of 50.1 billion Egyptian pounds ($9.36 billion) a year ago, is larger than Bank of Alexandria but it has not gone through the same radical restructuring and improvements.

Italy's Sanpaolo bought an 80 percent stake in Bank of Alexandria for $1.6 billion, a landmark in reducing the role of the state in the economy.

Bank of Alexandria sold at 6.1 times its book value, and another bank, AlWatany Bank of Egypt, was sold to National Bank of Kuwait at five times book value in 2007, the most recent Egyptian bank sale.

Banque du Caire could fetch a good price for the government because it is the last big bank available for the foreseeable future. The Central Bank refuses to issue new banking licences, so buying a bank is the only way into the Egyptian market.

Banque du Caire has about a 6 percent market share in terms of total assets and deposits and was initially slated to merge operations with Banque Misr. (Reuters)

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