The US Bloomberg Agency said that Banque Misr is seeking to borrow $ 250 million from international lenders this year, as it goes on plans to expand into the first of the three countries that the bank targets in Africa.
Mohamed El-Etriby, Chairman of Banque Misr, in an interview with Bloomberg, said that the second largest state-owned bank in Egypt will use the loan to finance small and medium projects among other purposes. Banque Misr expects additional liquidity support when it sells a stake in Banque du Caire in the first half of this year.
Al-Etribi explained that they are in talks with two international institutions on loans with competitive interest rates, without specifying these banks. The bank negotiates directly without an adviser.
The Bloomberg Agency indicated that the Central Bank granted Banque Misr the approval to open a branch in Somalia, in an unusual plan for a foreign lender, while also seeking to enter both Kenya and Djibouti, either through branches or representative offices, according to Al-Etribi. The bank currently has branches in the UAE and France, and units in Lebanon and Germany and representative offices in China, Russia, South Korea and Italy.
Banque Misr benefits from sweeping reforms that Egypt has implemented during the past three years, according to Bloomberg in its report, which helped revive the economic growth that stalled after the January 2011 revolution. The floating of the pound and raising the interest rate have increased investments in domestic debt and helped end a shortage The dollar.
Mohamed El-Etriby has previously said that his bank, the owner of Banque du Caire, is seeking to offer up to 45% of the bank’s shares on the Egyptian Stock Exchange during the first half of this year with the possibility of a foreign investor obtaining a share of the bank’s shares during the offering.
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