Suez Canal Bank to sell stake in technology firm

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's Suez Canal Bank said on Sunday its shareholders approved the sale of its 29.38 percent stake in Suez Canal Company for Technology Settling for 494.93 million Egyptian pounds.
The bank said the stake would be sold to two Suez Canal Bank shareholders, the Arab International Bank (AIB) and businessman Ahmed Hussein, on a 50-50 basis at 19 pounds per share.
"The AIB will have the right to acquire the stake of the other party in case he doesn't use his buying licence in 10 days," it added.
The AIB, jointly owned by the governments of Egypt and Libya, holds 38 percent of Suez Canal Bank. Libya's Arab External Bank, owned by Libya's Central Bank owns 24 percent. Other investors and institutions hold 26 percent, while the free-float is around 12 percent.
Suez Canal Bank is a mid-sized commercial bank with a loan market share of 1.7 percent, mainly in the corporate sector. It has a 1.8 percent market share of sector deposits.
The bank appointed new management in January 2007, which announced a restructuring plan including divestment of non-profitable investments.
Investment bank EFG-Hermes said on Sunday the potential capital gain of from the sale "will likely lead us to revise upwards our 2008 net profit estimate for the bank".
"We believe this transaction will provide impetus for the loan restructuring process and speed up the bank's non-performing loans coverage efforts," it added.
Beltone rated Suez Canal Bank as "add" in February with a fair value of 34.30 pounds, saying it expected an improvement in the bank's margins and higher growth in investment income.
Shares in the bank, with a market capitalisation of 3.59 billion pounds, were 5.4 percent lower at 34 pounds by 1024 GMT.