Bahrain's ABC Concludes Acquisition of Egypt Share in BLOM 

Bahrain's Arab Banking Corporation (ABC) has completed the acquisition of 99.5% of the Egyptian unit of Lebanese Bank "BLOM", which will allow it to triple its market share and balance sheet in the country.

The announcement came on the heels of the successful completion of ABC's mandatory bid offer for Egypt's Bloom unit for $425 million, more than 1.37 times book value at the end of the first quarter, said a statement on Wednesday.

"Egypt is a thriving market in the Middle East with huge future potential," Khaled Kwan, CEO of ABC Group, said in a statement. He added that the bank intends to introduce digital and mobile banking services.

The transaction is expected to be concluded in the first quarter of 2022.

Meantime, Lebanese banks have sold assets abroad to raise capital at a time when the country's financial crisis has crippled.

First Abu Dhabi Bank agreed in January to buy the Egyptian share of Lebanese Bank Audi in a deal that also makes the largest bank in the United Arab Emirates one of the largest foreign banks in Egypt.

BLOM BANK is a Lebanese bank established in 1951, and has been repeatedly chosen as the best bank in Lebanon by the most well-known regional and international financial institutions such as Euromoney and The Banker.