Egypt considers floating two state banks

Egypt's central bank is studying the possibility of offering shares in two state banks in initial public offerings, Governor Tarek Amer told Reuters on Tuesday.

Amer said the offerings would not include state bank giants National Bank of Egypt and Banque Misr and that the central bank may offer a stake in one of its ventures to a strategic investor. He did not elaborate.

"We are studying taking a couple of banks to the stock market for capital increases, diluting around 20 percent," he said.

The central bank is also considering "offering a stake in one of its ventures to a strategic investor", Amer added.

Egypt owns vast swathes of the economy, including three of its largest banks - National Bank of Egypt, Banque Misr, Banque Du Caire - along with much of its oil industry and huge parts of its real estate.

The Central Bank of Egypt owns 99 percent of United Bank of Egypt and about 50 percent of the Arab African International Bank.