EFG-Hermes enters Kuwait with brokerage stake

by Rania El Gamal and Alaa Shahine Monday, 18 August 2008

Kuwait Invest Holding Co said on Monday it sold a 50 percent stake in a brokerage unit to EFG-Hermes, Egypt's largest investment bank by market value, for 33.4 million dinars ($124.4 million).

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EFG-Hermes said in a statement the unit, Offset Holding KSC, owns 90 percent of Gulf Financial Brokerage Co, which has a 26 percent market share in Kuwait.
Under the agreement, EFG-Hermes will assume the management and operation of Offset Holding and Gulf Financial, which will operate under the brand name EFG-Hermes IFA, the statement said.

"With no new brokerage licences being offered for sale in Kuwait on the Kuwaiti market and no foreseeable change to the regulatory environment, there is substantial scarcity value in acquiring interests in a Kuwaiti brokerage firm," EFG-Hermes Chief Executive Hassan Heikal said in a statement.

The firm said Gulf Financial Brokerage made a net profit of 2.9 million Kuwaiti dinars in the first six months of 2008.

Kuwait Invest made a net profit of 16.1 million dinars from the sale, which will be booked in the third quarter, it said in a statement on the Kuwait bourse website.

EFG-Hermes operates in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Lebanon Oman and now Kuwait. (Reuters)



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