Cairo: Egypt’s Beltone Financial is seeking a controlling stake in Oragroup, which owns banks in 12 African countries, as the company looks to expand its financial services on the African continent, Beltone said in a statement late on Saturday.

Beltone Financial, listed on the Cairo exchange and one of the country’s largest asset managers and financial services companies, said its board had agreed to sign a non-binding offer to set out indicative terms for the transaction.

It did not disclose the exact size of the stake it is looking to acquire or the potential terms. Oragroup has 143 branches serving more than 400,000 clients in 12 African countries in western and central Africa, the Beltone statement said.