Egyptian asset manager Beltone Financial acquires 60% of U.S. Auerbach Grayson

Egypt’s largest asset manager Beltone Financial announced on Tuesday it had acquired 60 percent of New York-based brokerage firm Auerbach Grayson & Company.

Beltone has 30 billion Egyptian pounds ($3.38 billion) in assets under management and has executed over 100 billion pounds in M&A and capital markets transactions. It was acquired by billionaire businessman Naguib Sawiris’s Orascom Telecom Media and Technology in 2015.

“The Auerbach Grayson acquisition is a natural extension for our businesses and is the first step in our strategy to create a major Middle East-based global investment bank,” said Sawiris.

After the OTMT takeover, Beltone tried to buy investment bank CI Capital from Egypt’s largest listed bank, Commercial International Bank (CIB), but the deal fell through when it failed to win regulatory approval.

Sawiris said at the time he planned to merge CI Capital with Beltone Financial to create one of Egypt’s largest investment firms. He said in March the deal was being held up by national security concerns and criticised the state for meddling in business, saying this would discourage investors.

Source: Reuters