Dubai Financial Group sells stake in EFG-Hermes to Natixis

Dubai Financial Group sold its 11.8 per cent stake in Egyptian investment bank EFG-Hermes Holding to France’s Natixis under a debt restructuring deal, its parent company said on Sunday.

The sale was “consistent with the business plan for Dubai Group, which was agreed with its lenders as part of the restructuring agreement,” Fadel al-Ali, Dubai Group chairman, said in a statement.

The price of the transaction was not disclosed. Based on Thursday’s closing price, the stake is worth around $107m, according to Reuters calculations.

Dubai Group completed a drawn-out restructuring of its $10bn debt pile in January 2014, with banks extending repayment deadlines on loans so that the group could be given time to sell its assets to raise cash needed to fund the payments.

As part of its restructuring deal, it recently completed the sale of a 48.4 per cent stake in Dubai-based Shuaa Capital to Abu Dhabi Financial Group (ADFG) for an undisclosed amount.

Dubai Group was obliged to divest its holdings in EFG-Hermes, Shuaa Capital and Bank Muscat this year, al-Ali, who is also chief executive of Dubai Group’s parent firm Dubai Holding, said in May.