Societe Generale Libano-Europeene de Banque SAL (SGLEB), which already owns 67 percent of local brokerage firm Fidus SAL, increased its stake by acquiring the remaining 33 percent of the financial firm from its chairman Nabil Aoun at an undisclosed price. Societe Generale acquired a 51 percent stake in Fidus in March 1999 and another 16 percent of the brokerage firm last June.
Fidus, established in 1994 with LL5 billion in capital, handled around 30 percent of volume on the BSE last year, giving it a turnover of about $27 million on the local market.
The link with Societe Generale gave Fidus access to the global trading network of the French banking group, which is active in 70 countries, and provided the bank with a presence in the Lebanese capital market. Fidus has been increasingly active on the international equities markets as activity on the Beirut bourse has been stagnant for almost two years. Mr. Maurice
Sehnaoui, chairman of SGLEB, will replace Mr. Aoun as Fidus chairman, while the latter will assume the role of advisor to the chairman.--( Lebanon Invest )
