KUWAIT CITY, 23 May 2004 — The National Bank of Kuwait (NBK), the emirate’s largest bank, has acquired a minority stake in Grindlays Qatar Bank (GQB), in the first such acquisition in Gulf Arab states, a statement said yesterday.
The two banks also signed an agreement granting NBK day-to-day management of the Qatari bank, which last year ended its cooperation with Standard Chartered Banking Group, the joint statement said.
A spokesman said NBK had acquired some 20 percent share in the Qatari bank, which will soon change its name to International Bank of Qatar. The agreement will increase the shareholders’ equity of GQB to about $100 million, the statement said.
“This deal will be of benefit to both parties in addition to developing cooperation between the two countries,” NBK Chairman Mohammed Abdulrahman Al-Bahar said. “NBK considers this step as a major move toward the realization of its strategies to grow and spread regionally.”
NBK has opened branches in Lebanon, Bahrain and Jordan and is expected to open a branch in Saudi Arabia after obtaining the necessary license.
It also has branches in London, New York, Geneva, Paris, Singapore and Thailand, and Vietnam and plans to open in China.
The bank is also considering the purchase of 70 percent of Iraq Credit Bank to commence operations in the war-ravaged country.
NBK, Britain’s HSBC and Standard Chartered were in January awarded the first licenses given to foreign banks in Iraq for 40 years.
Founded by Kuwait’s leading merchant families in 1952 as the Gulf state’s first commercial bank, NBK has one of the largest international networks among Arab banks.
Its assets at the end of March this year stood at $18.2 billion and its shareholder equity at $1.8 billion.