Byblos Bank Acquired Banque Pharaon & Chiha

Byblos Bank announced on the 10^th of May, 2016 that it has completed the acquisition of 99.18% of the shares in Banque Pharaon & Chiha. The latter was valued at $91M. Raymond and Teddy Rahmeh (known as ZR Group) have previously attempted to acquire Banque Pharaon & Chiha, however, BDL refused their request given that banks are only allowed to acquire other banks. The deal took place after the assignment by Raymond and Teddy Rahmeh to Byblos Bank of their shares and rights under share purchase agreements entered into with former shareholders of the acquired bank. Therefore, ZR Group has received a preliminary authorization to acquire directly or through a holding company, especially registered for this purpose, up to 5.6% of the common shares of Byblos Bank. It is worth noting that the share price’s calculation was made on the basis of a share price equal to 125% of Byblos Bank’s audited book value as of 31 December 2015.

Banque Pharaon & Chiha Details (by the end of 2015)

Source: BSE