Qatar's Masraf Al Rayan is in discussions to become the biggest shareholder in Islamic Bank of Britain (IBB), a troubled Sharia-compliant lender.
Masraf Al Rayan, the biggest Islamic bank in Qatar, announced after a board meeting on Monday that it had entered negotiations to obtain a controlling stake in IBB through a capital increase.
"Masraf Al Rayan will acquire 70 per cent of the bank and the government of the state of Qatar will acquire the remaining 30 per cent," the bank said. "This is subject to obtaining approval of the official authorities in the state of Qatar and the United Kingdom."
The bank said it would also acquire "two major share portions of two Qatari companies operating in the industry of maintenance of oil and gas fields", subject to approval from authorities.
Masraf Al Rayan did not disclose how much it planned to pay for the IBB stake.
IBB, the first stand-alone Sharia-compliant lender in the UK, was created to offer financial services to Muslims in Britain.
The UK's Financial Services Authority approved the establishment of the bank in 2004, with the backing of Gulf investors including Abdul Rahman Abdul Malik, the chief executive of Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank at the time. He then became the chief executive of IBB.
However, the British bank has failed to make a profit since being set up. Qatar International Islamic Bank (QIIB) injected £20 million (Dh112.6m) of fresh capital into IBB in 2010 at a price of 1 pence per share after losses at the bank. IBB has reported a full-year loss of £8.9m for last year.
In April last year, QIIB bought the remaining 19.05 per cent of the company's shares for £4.8m.
Masraf Al Rayan stock rose 0.5 per cent yesterday, after the talks were revealed, to 27 Qatari riyals. QIIB's stock fell 0.4 per cent to 49.3 riyals.
ghunter@thenational.ae
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- Washington issued formal waivers to eight buyers of Iranian oil, allowing them to continue limited imports. Iraq did not receive a waiver.
- Iraq’s government is cooperating with the US to contain Iranian influence in the country, and increased Iraqi oil production is helping to make up for Iranian crude that sanctions are blocking from markets, US officials say.
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- The country stopped trucking Kirkuk oil to Iran about three weeks ago, in line with U.S. sanctions, according to four people with knowledge of the matter who asked not to be identified because they aren’t allowed to speak to media.
- Oil exports from Iran, OPEC’s third-largest supplier, have slumped since President Donald Trump announced in May that he’d reimpose sanctions. Iran shipped about 1.76 million barrels a day in October out of 3.42 million in total production, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
- Benchmark Brent crude fell 47 cents to $72.70 a barrel in London trading at 7:26 a.m. local time. U.S. West Texas Intermediate was 25 cents lower at $62.85 a barrel in New York. WTI held near the lowest level in seven months as concerns of a tightening market eased after the U.S. granted its waivers to buyers of Iranian crude.
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Next time when procastinating online remember that you can save thousands on paying for a personal trainer and a gym membership simply by watching YouTube videos and keeping up with the latest health tips and trends.
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