Egypt banks to take real estate assets for debt coverage

Banks in Egypt have agreed to accept a proposal by the country's ministry of investment, under which lenders will receive real estate in exchange for hundreds of millions of dollars in public sector debt, Reuters has reported. "There has been an agreement ... with the public sector companies that we would take assets as settlement for the public sector debt," Banque Misr's Vice-Chairman Mohamed Ozalp told the news service. National Bank of Egypt's Chairman Tarek Amer confirmed that his bank had also agreed to the real estate for debt exchange.