The International Finance Corporation (IFC) acquired 8 percent of Byblos Bank as part of the bank’s effort to raise its capital by $250 million, said Byblos in a January 21 statement. The IFC, the World Bank’s private arm, bought 47,619,047 ordinary shares at $2.10 per share, bringing the aggregate purchase price of the sale to $100 million. Byblos Invest, whose Chairman Sami Haddad was formerly the director of the IFC’s Middle East and North Africa Department and minister of economy, will vote in favor of granting a seat on the bank’s board of directors to an IFC nominee. The Central Bank of Lebanon approved the sale on January 21 and the deal is set to close on June 30, 2010. Byblos has been granted large loans by the IFC on three separate occasions, totaling more than $94 million, according to the Byblos Bank’s website. These loans, offered in 1993, 1996 and 1999, were given to facilitate commercial lending and housing loans.