Demand is strong; it is the first of the big Egyptian banks to come up for sale. And there will not be many more bank privatizations, with none proposed in the near future. Apart from the Bank of Alexandria, only three state-owned banks remain, two of which are soon to be merged with each other. Since it carries out central bank functions, the National Bank of Egypt is not in the picture, leaving the merged entity of Banque Misr and Banque du Caire as the sole item on the shelf.
According to a source at Citibank, the lead adviser in the deal, the government is likely to proceed with a sale of Banque Misr/ Banque du Caire modelled on the Bank of Alexandria privatization, but this will not be undertaken before the consolidation process is complete.
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