VOL. XLII

No. 06

8-February-1999

LEBANON

Lebanons Byblos Bank To Merge With BLC

Byblos Bank bought 53% of Banque Libanaise pour leCommerce (BLC) on 31 January for $109mn to make way for a merger between thetwo banks under the entity of Byblos Bank. The merger, which has yet to beapproved by the Central Bank of Lebanon, will create the largest bank inLebanon in terms of market capitalization, shareholders equity and number ofbranches and bring Byblos market capitalization up to $1bn. Under the...