Com.int.bk.regs Regulatory News (CBKD)

22 Dec 2009 07:00



Changes in Commercial International Bank (CIB)-Egypt Shareholding Structure

Cairo, December 2009. We would like to announce that New York-based Ripplewood has sold its remaining 4.7% residual stake in Commercial International Bank (CIB) through the open market. This transaction follows the announcement in July 2009 when Actis, the emerging market private equity specialist acquired 50% of the stake originally held by the Ripplewood consortium in CIB. This move marks the successful transition of strategic partnership to be with the Actis, who is now the single largest shareholder in CIB with a 9.3% stake. 

Since 2005, when the initial announcement of the sale of NBE's final stake in CIB was made, several milestones have been accomplished. The most notable of which are: 

CIB was the first Egyptian corporation to establish an Audit Committee in 1998. Since then, further enhancements were made to promote a strong Corporate Governance culture: 

Expanding our branch network from 92 branches in 2005 to 155 branches in 2009 

Hiring top tier banking caliber from the local and international market in order to fill skill gaps which became evident for establishing our consumer banking franchise. The expansion of the bank and restructure have created career opportunities and increased our head count from 2301 in 2005 to 4538 in 2009 

Rebuilding a customer focused IT platform to support our businesses

 CIB has been actively involved in the community service initiatives that are consistent with our Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) framework based on meeting four key pillars 

During the period between 2005-2008 NPAT has been growing by a CAGR of 22.3% while CIB increased its market share from 4.5% to its current level at 6.7% 

These milestones coupled with CIB's robust performance, despite the recent global financial crisis, have played an instrumental role in preparing CIB for the launch of our consumer banking . These successes enabled the bank to attract a strategic partner such as Actis, with 60 years experience investing in emerging markets and a vast knowledge of consumer banking. 

It is worth mentioning that the decision to sell was made in consideration of Ripplewood's desire to provide liquidity to its investors in the firm's 2001 vintage fund. Moreover, CIB has capitalized on its partnership with Ripplewood and has made significant progress in strengthening its systems, processes and managerial expertise. CIB's relationship with Ripplewood will remain, whereby CIB will be Ripplewood's bank of choice for their Middle East transactions. Meanwhile, Mr. Robert Willumstad who has been instrumental in helping CIB to build its consumer banking business will continue to provide his support and expertise as an independent board member. "