A tie-up between Egyptian investment bank EFG Hermes and Qatar's QInvest, approved by EFG shareholders on June 2, is legally binding and can only be reversed through legal action, EFG said on Tuesday.

After EFG announced plans to fold its main investment banking operation into a joint venture controlled by QInvest, a group of Egyptian and Gulf Arab investors made a buy-out approach for EFG that the bank's management has rebuffed.

'With the approval of the company's general assembly of the agreement signed with QInvest, the agreements have become binding on the two parties,' EFG said in a statement. Backing out of the QInvest deal would amount to a breach of contract, it said. - Reuters