UAE banks take part in bidding for Citi's Egypt unit

Citigroup has received 10 bids for its consumer banking business in Egypt, three sources with knowledge of the matter said on Tuesday, with banks from the UAE heavily represented among the interested parties.

Emirates NBD (ENBD) and Mashreq are among those bidding for the business put up for sale by the US lender in October, two of the sources said.

A third source identified National Bank of Abu Dhabi  and Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (Adib) as having bid for the operations.

Citi declined to comment when contacted by Reuters. ENBD, Mashreq, NBAD and Adib also declined to comment.

The US bank said in October that it was pulling out of consumer banking in 11 markets, including Egypt and Japan, as it seeks to trim costs. Citi wants to complete sales in those markets by the end of 2015, it said at the time.

Citi's net investment in Egypt was around $250 million at June 30, 2013, according to a report filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for the second quarter of that year.


 

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