Stan Chart and Samba out of Egypt bank bid

By Wael Gamal

CAIRO (Reuters) - Standard Chartered (STAN.L) and Samba Financial Group 1090.SE have been disqualified from bidding for a stake in Egypt's Banque du Caire, leaving three bidders remaining, a banking official said on Wednesday.

"Samba and Standard Chartered were disqualified," Ali Al Seedy, a Banque du Caire board member, told Reuters. "Three are still bidding." He gave no reason.

The Egyptian government has said it expects the sale of up to 67 percent of the bank to raise at least $1.6 billion, making it the largest privatisation in Egypt since the sale of Bank of Alexandria in 2006.

Standard Chartered and Saudi Arabia's Samba were among five banks shortlisted to conduct due diligence on Banque du Caire in March.

The other banks bidding are National Bank of Greece SA (NBGr.AT), Dubai's Mashreqbank MASB.DU, and a consortium of Saudi Arabia's Arab National Bank 1080.SE and its Jordanian affiliate Arab Bank Group ARBK.AM.

The winner in the auction will be announced at a news conference at about 1 p.m. (11:00 a.m. BST) on Wednesday, a bank official said.

Banque du Caire, the third-largest state-owned bank with total assets of 50.1 billion Egyptian pounds ($9.36 billion) a year ago, is larger than Bank of Alexandria but it has not gone through the same radical restructuring and improvements.

Italy's Sanpaolo (ISP.MI) bought an 80 percent stake in Bank of Alexandria for $1.6 billion, a landmark in reducing the role of the state in the economy.