Ayman Hariri to sell
his stake in BankMed

Closing the deal

needs BDL's final approval

Ayman Rafic Hariri, the brother of the Prime Minister, has reached an agreement to sell his stake in BankMed to Cairo-based Jordanian businessman Alaa Al Khawaja, said Mohammed Hariri, the bank’s Chairman. The Central Bank (BDL) has given its preliminary approval for the stake sale, he said.

The bank chairman refused to confirm what has been reported in some press reports that the 42.2 percent stake is valued at $535 million.

“It is still under discussion. The press reports about the deal are mere speculations at this stage as there is still a lot of work to be done, so the final number may change,” Mohammed Hariri said.

According to Mohammed Hariri, the closing of the deal requires BDL’s final go-ahead and the approvals of foreign authorities in countries where BankMed has subsidiaries such as Turkey, Switzerland, and the United Arab Emirates,

BankMed is one of the country’s Alpha banks and is mainly owned by the Hariri family through GroupMed Sal Holding. BankMed had a shareholders’ equity of $1.52 billion at the end of 2015.

Al Khawaja is a partner in Orascom’s operations in Iraq. He is heavily invested in intellectual property rights of Egyptian movies, songs, and books. He owns a number of publishing and film production firms in Cairo as well as several movie theaters. He has real estate investments in France through his company SCI Talomar.