The Cassation Court ruled in Commercial International Bank-Egypt’s (CIB) favour in its a legal dispute with the shareholders of CI Capital, 99.98% of whose shares the bank now owns, according to press statement on Thursday.
The statement said that the judgement allows CIB-Egypt to proceed with the completion of a deal to sell CI Capital to businessman Naguib Sawiris.
The bank ruled in favour of the bank in its appeal to the economic court’s ruling No. 550, which obliges the bank to submit a mandatory tender offer for plaintiffs’ shares in CI Capital. The bank added that the judgment is final and unchallengeable.
The CIB signed an agreement in February to sell the investment bank CI Capital for EGP 924m to Beltone Financial, a subsidiary of Orascom Telecom Media and Technology Holding (OTMT), which is owned by Naguib Sawiris.
The Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority (EFSA) decided last week to postpone a decision on the acquisition of Beltone Financial by CI Capital until the completion of some requests, including resolving the legal dispute between the CIB and CI Capital.
Sawiris’s acquisition of CI Capital was challenged by a competing bid from the National Bank of Egypt (NBE) before the NBE revoked its request due to its failure to reach an agreement with the CIB.
Sawiris also faced difficulty in financing the acquisition through banks after the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) set rules governing the acquisition of financing companies. To solve this issue, Sawiris decided to fund the deal himself.
