Kuwait's Al Ahli Bank received approval from the Egyptian central bank to buy Piraeus Bank's unit in the North African country, it said on Wednesday.

Al Ahli Bank, which won approval from the Kuwaiti central bank last month, still needs the Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority to approve the deal, it said in a bourse filing.

It will pay $150 million cash for a 98.5 percent stake in the business, helping Kuwait's seventh-largest bank by assets expand and giving Greece's Piraeus a much-needed liquidity boost.