(Bloomberg) -- Egypt is in advanced talks to sell the government’s remaining stake in Alex Bank to Intesa Sanpaolo SpA, in what would be the North African nation’s first major asset sale since devaluing its currency in March.
An agreement would see the Italian lender, which already owns 80% of the Egypt-based bank, buy the remaining 20% and take complete ownership, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified as the negotiations are private.
The transaction will be closely watched by investors and the International Monetary Fund as a sign Egypt’s new government is committed to a state-divestment program. Still, the deal value will likely be significantly lower than the $625 million Egypt raised from a stake sale last year.
A spokesperson for Intesa declined to comment. Egyptian officials couldn’t be reached for comment.
The Middle East’s most populous country is emerging from its worst economic crisis in decades after allowing its currency to plunge 40% against the dollar six months ago. The move prompted a fresh wave of funding pledges from the IMF and others, part of a global bailout now totaling some $57 billion.
Portfolio investors quickly returned, pouring billions of dollars into Egypt’s local debt. But the focus is now shifting to winning a steady stream of foreign direct investment by offloading a selection of state-owned assets — a key IMF-backed reform.
The government last year unveiled an initial list of 32 assets it planned to offer to investors in sectors ranging from banking to energy and real estate. It now targets raising between $2 billion-$2.5 billion by the end of the current financial year in June 2025 from asset sales.
The United Arab Emirates kickstarted Egypt’s bailout with a $35 billion investment deal that included development rights for a prime spot of Mediterranean headland named Ras El-Hekma. Now the government says it’s seeking to replicate that pact and has earmarked five areas on the Red Sea coastline to offer to investors.
One of the locations will be Ras Banas, a peninsula in southern Egypt sitting across from Saudi Arabia, Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly told reporters on Thursday. He didn’t identify the others.
Saudi Arabia may also be about to make good on investment pledges from more than two years ago. Egyptian authorities this week said the kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund has been ordered to inject $5 billion, although they didn’t give a timeframe nor say what kind of assets it might snap up.
Madbouly said the pledge would be new funds, not a conversion of Saudi deposits currently held by Egypt’s central bank.
Saudi Arabia has previously shown some interest in developing Ras Gamila, a coastal area near the tourist hotspots on Egypt’s southern Sinai.
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