CIB: Management approves to bid for Citigroup’s Egypt Retail Portfolio

Egypt’s Commercial International Bank (CIB) announced Monday its management would submit a binding offer to acquire Citigroup’s retail portfolio in Egypt.

It did not provide any details about the value or timing of the offer, saying in a bourse filing it was not certain that it would result in a transaction. CIB revealed last month that Citigroup had opened its books for a due diligence process.

Citigroup said last year it was pulling out of consumer banking in 11 markets, including Japan and Egypt, as the U.S. bank with the biggest international business looks to cut its persistently high costs. The bank has said it expects to complete most of those sales this year.

The third-largest U.S. bank, built with a series of acquisitions spanning back to the 1980s, has been trying to slim down since the financial crisis to be as profitable as its rivals.