Egypt's leading investment bank EFG Hermes is planning to increase capital by EGP 391.83m through issuing shares on the Egyptian Stock Market (EGX), the company announced on Monday. Head of Investors' Relations at EFG Herms Hanzada Nessim explained to Daily News Egypt that the company will send a request to a committee in the EGX and if this committee approved it, it would send it to the EGX's board. "After that EFG Hermes will call for shareholders for a meeting to approve the plan," Nessim added. Nessim noted the timeframe of the transaction is still unknown. EFG Hermes has reported EGP 538m in net profit on EGP 2.6bn in total revenues in 2014, with the figure representing the company's highest net profit since 2010. In 2013, EFG Hermes, which has its headquarters in Egypt, reported EGP 540m in net loss. On a quarter-yearly basis, EFG Hermes registered in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2014 net profit of EGP 131m out of EGP 702m in revenues, after tax and minority interest. For over 30 years, EFG Hermes has provided companies with financial services, including investment banking, asset management, securities brokerage, research and private equity, operating in Egypt, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Jordan and Lebanon. In 2014, EFG Hermes expanded its activities outside of the MENA region as it had signed a $208m deal to acquire a 49% stake in wind energy company EDPR France, which has a combined gross capacity of 334MW. EFG Hermes faced an unstable situation in June 2014 when business tycoon Naguib Sawiris allied with Beltone Financial to acquire 20% of Hermes. The total number of shares respondent to the purchase offer under the Sawiris-Beltone alliance amounted to only 54.4m of the total 114m shares, an EFG Hermes source said at the time. The source explained that over 90% of Hermes shareholders refused the purchase offer. The Sawiris-Beltone alliance was conditional on the purchase of 20% of Hermes, or 114m shares as offered by shareholders. A request to amend the purchase offer was required if they wish to purchase only 9%, the total of what was offered by shareholders. The acquisition bid didn't go further.
