Today, Thursday, Gulf Bank of Kuwait announced the approval of the Board of Directors to start the due diligence work and obtain the required approvals from the Central Bank of Kuwait and the regulatory authorities regarding joint cooperation and acquisition between it and Al Ahli Bank of Kuwait.
Al-Ahly Bank announced on Monday that the main shareholders in it and in Gulf Bank – which are the “Al-Ghanim” commercial company and “Behbehani” investment – had asked to consider a proposal to have the banks enter into a joint cooperation under which both entities would be retained and one of them would be converted into a Sharia-compliant bank.
Today, Gulf Bank stated: “The Board of Directors gave its directions and recommendations to move forward to achieve this and take the necessary steps.”
After this statement, the Kuwait Stock Exchange announced the suspension of trade for the shares of Gulf Bank and Al Ahli Bank of Kuwait for an hour, in implementation of the executive regulations of the Capital Markets Authority regarding acquisitions and mergers.
Immediately after their re-trading, Gulf Bank shares rose 1.6 percent to 320 fils, and Al Ahli Bank shares rose 2.6 percent to 320 fils on the Kuwait Stock Exchange.
