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The Central Bank of Libya announces that Arab Bank plc ("Arab
Bank") has been designated as the winning strategic partner for
the privatisation of Wahda Bank following the opening of the
Financial Offers on February 13, in Tripoli in the presence of
the short-listed potential strategic partners. Arab Bank offered
a price of € 210 million for the initial 19% stake offered for
sale, valuing Wahda Bank at 9.4x its June 30, 2007 book value.
Arab Bank will receive, immediately as of closing, both
management control over Wahda Bank and the right to increase its
shareholding to 51% in three to five years.
This concludes the selection process for the strategic partner
for Wahda Bank which started on September 28, 2007 through a
press announcement calling for expressions of interest. Five
banks had pre-qualified: Intesa Sanpaolo, Arab Banking
Corporation, Attijariwafa bank, Société Générale and Arab Bank.
The transaction price is a clear recognition of the potential of
Wahda Bank and of the Libyan banking sector as a whole. As Wahda
Bank’s strategic partner, Arab Bank will contribute to the
modernisation of its IT systems, introduce new risk management
tools, launch new products, develop a sales and marketing
culture and undertake significant training of Wahda Bank’s
staff. The quality of Arab Bank's technical offer and banking
expertise to be contributed to Wahda Bank were major factors
leading to their selection as the strategic partner.
The privatisation of Wahda Bank, which follows the successful
privatisation of Sahara Bank in September 2007 is part of a
series of measures being undertaken by the Central Bank of Libya
to modernize the Libyan financial sector. Simultaneously, other
tasks are on-going such as the modernization of the national
payments system, the introduction of a credit bureau, the
upgrading of the credit culture in the banking system and the
restructuring of other public sector banks. The Central Bank of
Libya has clearly declared its commitment to turn the Libyan
financial sector into a modern, well functioning and well
regulated banking system with a view to contribute to the
overall economic growth of the country.
Arab Bank is the leading and most ancient universal bank in the
Arab world with, at June 30, 2007, shareholders’ equity of € 4.7
billion, total assets of € 26.4 billion, 400 branches and around
12,000 employees worldwide.
For any
further clarification, please contact:
Governor’s office
Tel: +218 21 334 1752
Fax: +218 21 444
2471 |
