Thursday, Mar 15, 2012
(This story was originally published Wednesday.)
BEIRUT (Zawya Dow Jones)--Kuwait's Burgan Bank, a unit of Kuwait Projects Co. (Holding), or Kipco, Wednesday said it is in talks to acquire an influential stake in a bank based in Malta.
Burgan said that its decision to go ahead with the acquisition will depend on the results of the financial and legal due diligence studies that it will carry out on that bank. It didn't disclose the name of the bank in a statement posted on the Kuwait bourse website.
The acquisition operation will also require the authorization of the board of directors of the two banks as well as the approvals of the regulators in both Kuwait and the Mediterranean island state, according to the statement.
Kipco, one of the largest diversified investment holdings in the Middle East and North Africa region, is Burgan's major shareholder directly and through its Bahraini unit United Gulf Bank, according to Zawya.com data.
Burgan Bank said last month that its 2011 net profit surged to 50.56 million Kuwaiti dinars ($181.3 million) from about KWD4.66 million in the previous year.
Its shares closed 2.2% lower at KWD0.435 in an overall higher market Wednesday.
-By Shikrallah Nakhoul, Zawya Dow Jones, +961 1 985757, shikrallah@zawya.com
Copyright (c) 2012 Dow Jones & Co.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
15-03-12 0350GMT
