Wednesday, Aug 01, 2012
(This story was originally published Tuesday)
BEIRUT (Zawya Dow Jones)--National Bank of Kuwait SAK (NBK.KW), or NBK, Tuesday said it has completed the acquisition of an additional 11.05% stake in local Boubyan Bank SAK (BOUBYAN.KW) for 121.7 million Kuwaiti dinars ($431.9 million).
NBK, Kuwait's largest bank by market value, said it concluded the acquisition Tuesday after receiving the approval of the country's Capital Markets Authority.
The acquired stake consists of about 193.1 million shares that were bought at KWD0.630 each, the lender said in a statement posted on the Kuwait bourse website.
NBK said last week that the acquisition will raise its stake in the Islamic bank to 58.34% from 47.29%. NBK said in June that Kuwait's central bank extended to October its approval for NBK to increase its stake in Boubyan to 60%.
In a negative overall market Tuesday, NBK's shares closed 1% lower at KWD0.990, while Boubyan's shares ended flat at KWD0.600.
-By Shikrallah Nakhoul, Zawya Dow Jones; +961 1 985757; shikrallah@zawya.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
01-08-12 0409GMT
