DUBAI- Kuwait Finance House has agreed to postpone finalising its acquisition of Bahrain's Ahli United Bank until December due to the coronavirus outbreak.

KFH obtained permission from the Central Bank of Bahrain to postpone the process "given the unprecedented circumstances relating to the COVID-19 pandemic," it said in a filing to the Kuwaiti bourse.

Its shareholders approved what would be the Gulf's first major cross-border bank merger in recent years. 

"The postponement came under the guidance of the regulatory authorities in the two countries, to consider the suitability of the two banks' conditions to this big step, after the coronavirus crisis and its implications." a source close to the deal said.

(Reporting by Saeed Azhar and Ahmed Hagagy; editing by Jason Neely) ((Saeed.Azhar@thomsonreuters.com; +971 44536787; Reuters Messaging: saeed.azhar.reuters.com@reuters.net))