Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB) is looking to raise up to 6.1 billion dirhams ($1.66 billion) through a rights issue, it said on Monday, sending its shares as much as 7.9% lower.

The bank's board has recommended increasing the share capital by issuing 592.2 million new shares in a move that the lender said would help it speed up its organic growth.

ADCB, the third-largest bank by assets in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), is aiming to double its net profit to 20 billion dirhams within the next five years.

The new shares will be issued at 10.3 dirhams apiece, a 30% discount to Thursday's closing price of 14.76 dirhams, ADCB said in a statement. The stock had risen 41.7% since the beginning of the year.

Trading in ADCB's shares was temporarily halted on Monday before resuming and falling as low as 13.6 dirhams. The stock was trading down 6.8% by 0936 GMT, inching towards the offer price.

The UAE has seen a string of secondary offerings this year, including from ADNOC's gas business, which raised $2.84 billion in February in one the biggest share sales in the Middle East in recent years.

The UAE state oil firm's logistics and services unit raised $317 million last month in a similar transaction, while Dubai's du on Monday announced a secondary share sale that could generate up to $923 million as one of its main investors trims its holding.

ADCB is majority-owned by the government-run Abu Dhabi Investment Council (ADIC), part of sovereign wealth fund Mubadala.

Its total assets stood at 719 billion dirhams at the end of June.

Shareholders will vote on the proposed capital increase on October 13, ADCB said.

($1 = 3.6728 UAE dirham)

(Reporting by Federico Maccioni; additional reporting by Shakeel Ahmad; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)