Algeria's CPA bank reports $110 million profit

Algerian bank Credit Populaire d'Algerie (CPA), due to be privatised later this year, made a 7.9 billion-dinar ($110 million) net profit in 2006, a government-owned newspaper reported on Sunday. El Moudjahid provided no figure for 2005 but said CPA's total revenue stood at 487.86 billion dinars last year.
Algeria has short-listed six foreign banks to compete to take a 51 percent stake in CPA. The six are France's BNP Paribas, Societe Generale, Credit Agricole and Natexis, Citibank of the United States and Spain's Banco Santander.
The sale is part of Algeria's drive to modernise its banking sector and improve its ability to finance investment and growth. Investment bank Rothschild [ROT.UL] is assisting the government with the sale.