Cairo – Mubasher: The Egyptian Financial Group Hermes Holding (EFG Hermes) has officially transferred into an Egyptian universal bank, after it concluded the acquisition of 51% equity in the Arab Investment Bank (aiBank).

In a bourse filing to the Egyptian Exchange (EGX) on Thursday, EFG Hermes said it would assume control of aiBank in partnership with the Financial Services and Fintech sub-fund of The Sovereign Fund of Egypt (TSFE).

TSFE’s equity ownership in this transaction will represent 25%.

EFG Hermes’ Group CEO, Karim Awad, said: “The completion of the acquisition of a majority stake in aiBank should be looked at as another step towards building a business model that can withstand the cyclicality of capital markets and increase synergies creation potential across the platform.”

He added: “Our efforts to geographically diversify our business means that we are now present in 13 countries with the ability to offer financial services to more than 1 billion people living and doing business in some of the world’s fastest-growing markets.”