Bahrain’s Arab Banking Corporation (ABC) completed its acquisition of the Egyptian subsidiary of the Lebanese Blom Bank for $480 million on Thursday, according to Reuters that quoted two banking sources.
The transaction included all of Blom Bank Egypt’s physical and non-physical assets as well as customer accounts.
Back in December, Lebanon’s Blom Bank, which owns 99.42% of the issued share capital of Blom Bank Egypt, said it had entered exclusive talks with Bahrain’s ABC.
As of September 30th of 2020, Blom Bank Egypt listed assets of 45.06 billion Egyptian pounds ($2.88 billion). Only recently it reported a net profit of 205.6 million Egyptian pounds, down from 229.5 million a year earlier.
This development comes as Lebanese banks are trying to strengthen their finances in their country that is experiencing the toughest financial crisis to date.
Days before the end of the year 2020, Lebanon-based Bank Audi, one of the country’s largest lenders, initially agreed to sell its subsidiaries in Jordan and Iraq to Amman-based Capital Bank.
Officials at Bank Audi declined to reveal the price of the two assets.
