Egypt cancelled the auction of state-owned Banque du Caire on 25 June, saying the bids it received from foreign banks did not meet the reserve price, Reuters reports.
“The auction did not reach the price set by the evaluating commiteee,” Banque du Caire chairman Mohamed Barakat told a news conference. “The intention to sell the bank is still there but no timing has been decided.”
Earlier, Standard Chartered and Samba Financial Group 1090.SE had been disqualified from bidding. The Egyptian government had said it expected the sale of up to 67 percent of the bank to raise at least $1.6 billion, making it the largest privatisation in Egypt since the sale of Bank of Alexandria in 2006, according to Reuters.
The other banks bidding were National Bank of Greece SA, Dubai’s Mashreqbank MASB.DU, and a consortium of Saudi Arabia’s Arab National Bank 1080.SE and its Jordanian affiliate Arab Bank Group ARBK.AM.