CAIRO, Oct 10 (Reuters) - Egypt's financial regulator saidon Wednesday it would decide next week on whether to approveplans by Egypt's biggest investment bank EFG-Hermes totie up with Qatar's QInvest.
EFG-Hermes and QInvest sealed the agreement in May to hiveoff EFG-Hermes's investment banking business in a joint venturein which state-backed QInvest would hold a 60 percent stake.
"We will take our decision next week," Ashraf el-Sharkawy,chairman of the Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority (EFSA),told Reuters, when asked if EFSA would approve the plan byEFG-Hermes and Qinvest for an investment bank.
He did not give further details.
In September, Shareholders in EFG-Hermes reaffirmed theirapproval of the tie-up after demands by the regulator for moredetails were met. EFSA had rejected decisions approved byshareholders in June because the firm had not clarified pointsincluding minority rights.
(Writing by Edmund Blair; Editing by Helen Massy-Beresford)
((edmund.blair@thomsonreuters.com)(+20 2 2578 3290)(ReutersMessaging: edmund.blair.thomsonreuters.com@thomsonreuters.net))
Keywords: EFGHERMES QINVEST/