Attijariwafa Bank, a financial Group in Africa founded in 1904, has announced the acquisition of 100% of the share capital of Barclays Bank Egypt from Barclays Bank PLC.

The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals from, among others, the Central Bank of Egypt and Central Bank of Morocco.

Following the acquisition, Attijariwafa Bank will own Retail and Corporate Banking business of Barclays Bank Egypt.

Mohamed El Kettani, Chairman and CEO of Attijariwafa Bank, said: “The Egyptian economy and banking sector offer significant growth prospects in the medium and long term. Barclays Bank Egypt, thanks to its positioning, highly talented management and motivated workforce, strong capitalization and clean balance sheet is the ideal platform to roll out Attijariwafa bank’s universal banking model in Egypt.” 

“This transaction will allow Attijariwafa bank to contribute to further economic integration between Egypt and our countries of presence in Maghreb, Western and Central Africa. It will also offer Attijariwafa bank a unique opportunity for further development in the Middle East and Eastern Africa,” he added.

Barclays Bank Egypt, headquartered in Cairo, is present in 18 Egyptian cities with 56 branches and 1,500 employees. 

It posted net banking income of EGP 1,517m and net income of EGP 606m in 2015. 

Its total assets and shareholders’ equity amounted EGP 20.2bn and EGP 3.4bn respectively as of December 31, 2015. 

Barclays Bank PLC is seeking to sell its African operations to simplify its structure and improve shareholder returns.

The sale of Barclays Bank Egypt will mean a cut of about £2bn ($2.55bn) in Barclays' risk-weighted assets, boosting the bank's core capital ratio by about 0.1%.

Jes Staley, Barclays Group CEO, said: "I am pleased to announce a further reduction in our Non-Core business. The announcement demonstrates our continued focus on improving the Group's returns and our ability to execute our strategy quickly."

Attijariwafa Bank is a universal bank operating in a wide range of activities, including retail banking, private banking, corporate & investment banking, specialized financial services, asset management, insurance and international retail banking.

Attijariwafa bank is present in 25 countries with 3,844 branches and 17,367 employees servicing 8.1 million customers.

Attijariwafa bank was advised by UBS Investment Bank, Attijari Finances Corp., Naciri & Associés Allen & Overy, Sharkawy & Sarhan Law Firm and Mazars.