Re Alliance

Commercial Intnl Bank (Egypt) SAE
21 August 2006



Commercial International Bank (CIB), Mr. Naguib Sawiris, Oasis Capital and
Dynamic Securities form Strategic Alliance in Financial Services Sector through
investment in Commercial International Capital Holding (CI-CH)'

Commercial International Bank (CIB), Egypt's prime bank, and Mr. Naguib Sawiris
announced today their long-term strategic alliance, together with Oasis Capital
Egypt (Oasis) and Dynamic Securities Trading (Dynamic), through an investment
and consolidation of their financial businesses in Commercial International
Capital Holding (CI-CH) CIB's full fledged investment bank arm, thus forming the
largest financial services group in Egypt. The new CI-CH will be looking to
leverage the strategic alliance with CIB and Mr. Sawiris to expand its business
locally and regionally, as well as join forces with Dynamic to further develop
the retail brokerage market and with Oasis to strengthen its private equity and
direct investment offering.

Under this transaction CI-CH will acquire Dynamic and Blue Nile Consulting (the
management company of Oasis) and subsequently Mr. Sawiris and Oasis will
purchase an equity stake in CI-CH and assume board responsibilities.

It is envisioned that by this alliance, the newborn CI-CH will be ideally
positioned to leverage the existing platforms of the parties as well as benefit
from their regional outreach in order to expand into nearby financial markets.
The new entity will offer a wide plethora of investment services such as retail
and institutional brokerage, asset management, private equity and alternative
investments, research and investment banking.

In a joint statement by Mr. Hisham Ezz Al-Arab, Chairman and Managing Director
of CIB and Ms. Sahar Sallab Vice Chairman and Managing Director of CIB and
Chairman of CI-CH, stated that, CIB highly values the reputation and integrity
of the partners involved in this alliance and are excited with the new local and
regional plans of CI-CH. They reiterated that the essential driver for
profitability behind this venture will be tapping the strength of each entity
through partnering with the staff as equal stakeholders and motivating them via
the appropriate incentive schemes. They further clarified, that this alliance
comes as a commitment from CIB to strengthen, consolidate and expand its
Investment Banking business under one roof and anchor the firm's local and
regional strategic partnership through the alliance with active investors as Mr.
Sawiris and Oasis.

Mr. Naguib Sawiris, also the Chairman of Oasis, pointed out that this investment
comes as the second big investment in Egypt outside the telecom sector for both
him personally and for Oasis and demonstrates the appreciation and commitment to
the exceptionally competent management and staff at CIB and CI-CH. He further
elaborated, that this transaction represents an endorsement of the business
model, industry leadership and financial flexibility of the parties involved. He
stated that this investment comes at a time to solidify the strong belief of
Oasis in the robustness of the Egyptian economy and as a vote of confidence in
the reform initiatives undertaken by the Government.

On his part Mr. Ahmed Hassanein the founder of Dynamic, said that he is very
happy with this conglomeration of talent and integrity. He further elaborated
that CIB is one of the best managed and most profitable financial services
organizations in the region. It enjoys an unparalleled reputation for success in
virtually every market, coupled with the business development abilities of Mr.
Sawiris and private equity expertise of Oasis, he believes, that the new company
will offer unprecedented value and services for potential clients.

Mr. Hussein El-Guindy, CEO of CI-CH asserted that the combination of CI-CH,
Dynamic and Oasis with the added strategic angle of CIB and Mr. Sawiris creates
an industry leader with the ability to provide best of breed financial and
investment services to clients and businesses. He further elaborated that these
firms are complementary in customer, geographic and product focus, and promised
that CI-CH we will continue providing the highest level of service to existing
customers while growing new business in rapidly expanding regional financial
markets through its presence and product range.


About CIB

CIB is Egypt's leading private sector commercial bank in terms of total assets,
loan portfolio and customer deposits. The Bank was incorporated in 1975 as a
joint venture between the National Bank of Egypt and Chase Manhattan Bank

With a 5% market share, 114 outlets, and 315 ATMs, CIB is the most profitable
bank in Egypt; with the largest private sector strategically located retail
banking network. It also offers a full range of financial services through its
Corporate Banking, Investment Banking, Retail Banking, Direct Equity, Brokerage,
Asset Management, Leasing, Insurance business, etc.

CIB is the best-rated bank in Egypt, capped only by the Sovereign ceiling for
Egypt, set at BB+. The Bank has been awarded as the best bank in Egypt for
several years in a row by Euromoney, Banker's Magazine, and other international
financial institutions. CIB is also the number one Egyptian private-sector bank
in profitability, net worth and loan book.

CIB is publicly listed in Egypt, Kuwait, and UAE. Its GDR's have also been
listed on the London Stock Exchange since 1996.


About CI-CH

CI-CH is the holding company majority owned by the CIB. Its service offering
includes a wide range of investment services to local, regional and
international clients. These include investment banking, brokerage, asset
management, research, private equity and alternative investments. Among its
holdings are Commercial International Brokerage Company (CIBC), Commercial
International Asset Management (CIAM), Commercial International Investment
Banking (CIIB) and United brokerage Company (UBC) in the UAE.


About Oasis Capital Egypt

Oasis Capital Egypt is a US$ 150 million private equity fund exclusively
targeting Egyptian non-listed investments. The fund partners are Naguib Sawiris,
Olayan Finance Group and Majed Al-Futtaim Investment Trust.


About Dynamic Securities

Dynamic was set up in 1995 by the Hassanein family as a securities dealer. Since
inception, the firm maintained a niche for itself in the retail market. It has
been consistently ranked with the top ten dealers on the CASE in terms of market
share.


About Naguib Sawiris

Mr. Sawiris is the Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive
Officer of Orascom Telecom Holding. Mr. Sawiris is also the Chairman of Wind in
Italy, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Egyptian Company for Mobile
Services (ECMS). Mr. Sawiris also serves as a member of the Board of Directors
of the Egyptian Counsel for Foreign Affairs, the Consumer Rights Protection
Association and the Cancer Society of Egypt. He has been elected to the
membership of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) International Advisory
Committee. Mr. Sawiris received a degree in Mechanical Engineering and a
Master's degree in Technical Administration from the Swiss Institute of
Technology and a degree from ETH Switzerland



                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange