Lebanon's Bank Audi said it had acquired 90 per cent of online brokerage Arabeya Online from the firm's chairman and majority owner Naeem Holding. The bank, however, did not disclose the value of the deal.

'Bank Audi's investment in Arabeya Online comes in line with the bank's strategy to expand in the Middle East and North Africa,' the Lebanese bank's chief executive officer, Samir Hanna, said in an e-mailed statement.

Naeem had held 80 per cent of the Cairo-based firm, Egypt's ninth biggest by transaction value, and chairman Hisham Tawfik held the remaining 20 per cent.

Arabeya Online, which mainly serves retail and day traders, had transactions worth more than 18 billion Egyptian pounds ($3.2 billion) in 2009.

Tawfik will keep a 10 percent stake and will retain an executive position, the statement said.

'Keeping his rich expertise will be a constructive basis on which to build a brokerage that will serve customers throughout the region,' Hanna said.

The online brokerage said on June 6 Naeem had received offers for its stake and aimed to conclude a sale within six weeks. Bank Audi made net profit of $161.4 million in the first half of the year, a 21 per cent rise on a year earlier.-Reuters