The National Bank of Umm Al Qaiwain PSC (“NBQ”) and Global Investment House (“Global”) announced today a primary agreement to issue and subscribe a convertible debt instrument. The instrument will be issued by NBQ to Global for a total consideration of AED 2.36 billion. Global shall have the option to convert the instrument into 330 million new shares of NBQ. Upon successful conversion, the new issue would imply 25% expansion of the existing paid in share capital, giving Global 20% shareholding in NBQ. Finalizing the issuance is subject to UAE regulatory authorities’ approval.
On this occasion, Sheikh Nasser bin Rashid Al Moalla, MD & CEO of NBQ stated, “We welcome Global as our new investor, and we believe that Global, being one of the most active investment companies in the region will add more value to the Bank in areas of asset management and corporate finance services”. Upon conversion, it will raise NBQ’s paid-up capital to AED1.65 billion and also will raise the shareholders’ equity to over AED5.0 billion. The new capital will assist the Bank to develop its business operations and enhance its growth rate with a more solid capital basis, he further added.
Mr. Omar El-Quqa, Executive Vice President at Global said “This investment is in continuation of our interest to widen and strengthen Global’s presence in the GCC banking and finance sector”. “Our association with NBQ, should help us in several ways”, added El-Quqa, “not only will it add to the distribution power of Global and also improve its flexibility for engineering capital adequacy for future expansions and principal investments.”
The National Bank of Umm Al Qaiwain (NBQ) was established in 1982 and since then it has been consistently growing in assets and yearly profits. It is currently offering retail, corporate and institutional banking services and also operates an Islamic banking window. NBQ has 16 branches across the Emirates, and have plans to expand further into other countries in the region. The Bank is listed on the Abu Dhabi Stock Market, and is among the leaders, in terms of market capitalization. It is well positioned to gain from the economic growth in the UAE, and in the neighboring GCC countries. It has an aggressive business plan to reinforce its presence in the region. The Government of Umm Al Qaiwain is the bank’s major share holder since its inception besides other UAE major investors.
Global Investment House is a leading investment institution in the region. It is among the largest asset managers in the Middle East with US$9.5 billion in assets under management. It is one of the most preferred investment banks in the region and is highly active in the area of principal investments. In May 2008, Global conducted a successful USD 1.15 billion and was listed at The London Stock Exchange. It was assigned BBB/A-3 (long and short-term counterparty ratings with a stable outlook) by Standard and Poor in August 2008. Global’s principal investments are largely targeted to initiatives of widening its geographical presence for distribution power as well as building a presence in strategically related sectors for stabilizing its annuity. Global also recently acquired a 19.0% stake in the Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait (BBK). It also has strategic stake in several other banks, consumer finance companies, real estate and corporate finance institutions in the MENA region. Global is currently operating across 16 countries through wholly owned subsidiaries and jointly controlled partnerships.
