EFG-Hermes Holding May Seek to Acquire RBS Pakistan

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EFG-Hermes Holding SAE, the biggest publicly traded Arab investment bank, has expressed an interest in acquiring a majority stake in the Pakistan unit of Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, according to the nation’s central bank.

“They have applied for the permission from the central bank to conduct due diligence,” Syed Wasimuddin, a spokesman for the State Bank of Pakistan, said by telephone from Karachi today.

RBS is renewing attempts to sell a stake in its local unit after MCB Bank Ltd., Pakistan’s biggest lender by market value, canceled a proposed takeover because of a dispute over depositing shares as security. MCB had agreed in August to acquire 99.4 percent of RBS Pakistan for about $87 million.