Barclays plans to sell its Egypt unit

Barclays bank has put its Egyptian unit up for sale with interest from two banks from the Middle East and North Africa having surfaced.

According to Reuters, Emirates NBD had showed interest in a possible acquisition and had sought advice from Perella Weinberg Partners, which worked on the bank’s 2013 acquisition of BNP Paribas’ Egyptian unit.

On Monday Emirates NBD, which Is the UAE’s largest bank by assets, reported a 16% increase in net profit for the second quarter of its financial year.

Morocco’s largest bank by assets Attijariwafa Bank is also reportedly making a bid with UBS as its adviser.

The bids are due at the end of August. The sale is part of chief executive Jes Staley’s plan to simplify the bank’s structure. Reportedly Barclays Egypt’ equity value is around $400m.

Barclays bank has been in Egypt since 1864 and currently has 56 branches and about 127,000 customers.

Shares in Barclays fell 0.84% to 149.64p at 1706 BST.