The Board of Directors of the National Bank of Oman rejects a merger offer from Bank Dhofar
The National Bank of Oman said today, Wednesday, that its board of directors had rejected a merger offer from Bank Dhofar, the second largest bank in the Sultanate.
The National Bank, in which the National Bank of Bahrain owns a share, added in a statement that its board of directors decided not to accept the non-binding merger offer submitted by Bank Dhofar, and the statement did not mention the reason for the board’s decision.
On Tuesday, Al-Ahli Bank announced that it had received an offer to merge with Bank Dhofar, a deal that would have created an entity with assets exceeding $19 billion.
The financial statements showed that Bank Dhofar owns assets worth $11.2 billion, while the assets of the National Bank in Oman amount to about $7.9 billion.
The share of Bank Dhofar decreased by 11% since the beginning of this year, to an estimated value of $ 1.21 billion, while the shares of the Omani “Al-Ahly” rose by about 2% in the same period, to estimate the value of the bank at about $ 881 million.
Since 2013, the Capital Market Authority in the Sultanate of Oman, which is the regulator specialized in the financial sector, has been seeking to encourage mergers in the crowded sector, with the aim of enhancing the ability of Omani banks to compete in the Gulf region, in the long term, according to official data.
Last year, HSBC Bank Oman and its local rival Bank Sohar International entered into a binding merger agreement, which was approved by the central bank in February. The merger is expected to be completed in the second half of this year.
The number of banks in the Sultanate of Oman is 19, with 6 government commercial banks, two specialized government banks, two Islamic banks, and 9 branches of foreign commercial banks.
(Archyde.com, The New Arab)