OREANDA-NEWS. Banque Misr SAE (“Banque Misr” or the “Bank”) has mandated Arab Banking Corporation (B.S.C.) (“Bank ABC”), Emirates NBD Capital Limited, HSBC Bank Middle East Limited, Mashreqbank PSC and Union National Bank PJSC as the Mandated Lead Arrangers & Bookrunners, and Bank ABC as the Coordinator, to arrange on its behalf a USD 250 million syndicated term loan facility (the “Facility”). The Facility is a senior unsecured term loan of 36 months and 1 week and will be utilized for general funding purposes. General syndication for the Facility was launched yesterday and is expected to close by early December 2015.

Company Overview

Established in 1920, Banque Misr is the second largest bank in Egypt by total assets and the first bank to be wholly owned by the Government of Egypt (“GOE”). Regulated by the Central Bank of Egypt, the Bank carries out corporate, retail and investment banking activities in addition to Islamic banking through its 500 branches in Egypt, 5 branches in UAE, 1 branch in France and offices in Lebanon and Germany. The Bank has the largest branch network in Egypt with 12,500 employees and services more than 7 million clients in the country.

Banque Misr currently holds an equity stake in 172 projects predominantly in the financial, industrial, tourism, housing, agriculture & food, general service and communications & information sectors. The Bank has also established a diversified portfolio of investment funds in Egypt and has been awarded several accolades by the Global Finance Treasury and Cash Management Awards. It has been providing financing facilities to a range of projects in the country and is ranked second in MENA bookrunner league tables by loan amount in 2015 (Bloomberg as of October 2015).

The Bank posted a net profit of USD 352 million for the twelve months ending in June 2014, up 116% from June 2013 mainly due to an increase in net interest income. Total assets stood at USD 38 billion and shareholders’ equity at USD 2.8 billion for the same period. As of June 2014, its non-performing loans to gross loans ratio declined to approx. 15% from approx. 40% in the twelve months ending June 2010. The Bank has a capital adequacy ratio of 13.1%, an equity to assets ratio of 7.3% and an adjusted tangible common equity to risk weighted assets ratio of 8.2%.

Banque Misr’s direct GOE exposure through Treasury bills amounts to around 5 times its Tier 1 capital and 27% of its assets.

The Bank’s current credit rating is B3 at Moody’s (stable outlook), and B- at S&P (positive outlook). On 7th April 2015, Moody’s upgraded Egypt’s rating from CCC+ to B3 while Fitch rating for Egypt is B (stable outlook).