The reality of the matter is that the Egyptians wanted a (60+%) politically-explosive increased share in AUDI ... Basically, AUDI holds the biggest share (by a local bank) in the Lebanese national debt, ... and Lebanon's powers-to-be 'leaned' heavily on Salameh to trip the Egyptians. Little things like pressures from a regime that has many chips against Lebanon's powers-to-be, tilted the decision!
The Beirut-based company paid around $450 million for half the EFG-Hermes’ stake, Chief Executive Officer Azmi Mikati said in an interview in his office today.
Bank Audi has “great potential and is the leading financial institution in Lebanon growing at a very rapid pace,” Mikati said. “It has the potential of a platform to further expand in the region.”
EFG-Hermes, the biggest publicly traded Arab investment bank, sold its stake on Jan. 18 in Bank Audi, Lebanon’s largest lender by assets, for $913 million after giving up the possibility of acquiring a bigger stake. Half was sold to a group of existing shareholders and other individuals, none of whom own more than 5 percent each of Bank Audi, according to a filing with the Beirut Stock Exchange on Jan. 18....
The central bank “wanted everybody to know that if you invest in Lebanon and want to exit you can do it and do it smoothly,” Salameh said at the time.
“The main element for us was stability in the banking sector, its reputation, because we don’t want foreign investors to be stuck in any investment in Lebanon.”Salameh declined to comment on whether the central bank had bought shares in Bank Audi for about $154 million, as reported by the Beirut-based Al-Akhbar newspaper last month. Lebanese law forbids Salameh from speaking about activities of the central bank’s clients, and all the banks in Lebanon are the clients of the central bank, he said...."
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