The Egyptian business says it is looking at setting up the two companies through a joint venture with Aref Investment Group, a Kuwait investment company.

One of the takaful companies would concentrate on life insurance and the other would specialise in other areas of the market, such as car, home contents, and travel insurance.

The investors are looking at establishing both companies with paid-in capital of £E100m ($18m).

The Egyptian government will overhaul Egypt's insurance sector later this year when it introduces a single non-banking financial services regulator with a new set of rules covering insurance.

The legislation needed to create the regulator is before Egypt's parliament.