Egypt’s Orascom Telecom and Media Technology has enough cash to lend one billion Egyptian pounds ($128 million) to its subsidiary Beltone Financial to buy local investment bank CI Capital Holding, its chairman said in an interview with CNBC Arabia due to be aired later Monday.
OTMT, which has interests in media, technology and cable businesses as well as energy, transport and logistics, is expanding into financial services and plans to merge Beltone Financial, which it bought for almost 650 million pounds, with CI Capital.
“We have the liquidity,” said Egyptian tycoon Naguib Sawiris when asked if OTMT could afford to make the loan to Beltone Financial.
Last month OTMT had said Beltone Financial would buy CI Capital, a subsidiary of Egypt’s largest listed bank Commercial International Bank (CIB), while CIB said it had accepted an offer from Orascom Telecom to buy CI Capital for 924 million pounds.
Source: Reuters
