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Jun 20 2012

CORRECTED-UPDATE 1-Kuwait's Boubyan Bank backs $2.1 bln NBK offer

(Changes million to billion in the lead)

* Protiviti to advise on deal

* Boubyan , NBK shares fall in Kuwait trading

moved a step closer to a takeover of Kuwait's Boubyan Bank

on Wednesday, but a disputed stake held by another bank remains an obstacle to the $2.1 billion deal.

.

Investment Dar, a struggling Kuwaiti firm that is undergoing restructuring, sold the stake to CBK in 2008, with the right to buy it back. In 2009, CBK said Dar had lost that right and tried to sell on the open market, a move blocked by a Dar-requested court order.

"For NBK , its a matter of getting the CBK stake sorted out and gaining regulatory approval," a banking source said on Wednesday. "They have the support of Boubyan , so its a done deal if these two things are taken care of."

If the tie-up is completed, the combined entity would hold assets worth about $57 billion.

Boubyan has hired consulting firm Protiviti to advise on the transaction, it said in a bourse statement on Wednesday.

Boubyan shares were trading down 1.6 percent at 620 fils on the Kuwait bourse Wednesday, while NBK shares were down 1.9 percent at 0915 GMT.

(Reporting by Dinesh Nair; Editing by David Goodman and Amran Abocar)

((amran.abocar@thomsonreuters.com)(+971 4 453 6467)(Reuters Messaging: amran.abocar@thomsonreuters.com))

Keywords: BOUBYAN NBK/


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