The offering the United Bank of Egypt (UBE) for sale may start in late 2016 or early 2017, according to Ashraf El-Kady, Chairman of the bank. The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) decided in late March to offer the bank for sale to a strategic investor before next year. According to El-Kady, CBE has already received requests from a large number of Gulf and international financial institutions willing to acquire the bank and will shortlist the banks that will conduct due diligence. UBE’s management is completing its restructuring and preparing it for sale. El-Kady said that all scenarios are on the table, including an offering in the stock market, but selling the bank to a strategic investor is a higher possibility. UBE was established in 2006 through the merger of the Nile Bank, the Egyptian United Bank and the Islamic Bank for Development and Investment. The bank’s paid-in capital amounts to EGP1bn, and the equity base to EGP1.7bn. UBE has legacy NPLs of EGP6bn from the three banks merged in it, but it succeeded in collecting about EGP3bn of this. UBE has 47 branches, of which 21 are dedicated to Islamic banking, and plans to open five new branches before 2017. According to El-Kady, the bank’s loan book reached EGP5.8bn in 2015, including SMEs, real estate and retail. UBE targets a loan book of EGP6.2bn by end of 2016. Total deposits reached c.EGP22bn in 2015, expected at EGP25bn by end-2016. (The Daily News Egypt)