Bahrain’s United Gulf Holding gets regulatory approval to acquire Bank of Baghdad

Bahrain-headquartered United Gulf Holding has received approval from the Central Bank of Iraq to acquire 51.8% of the Bank of Baghdad.

“BOB will be consolidated in UGH’s books which in turn will increase its balance sheet size by $1 billion,” the Bahraini company said in a bourse filing on Tuesday (Jan 28).

UGH reported assets of $3.33 billion as at September 30. 

It buys over the 51.79% stake in the Iraqi commercial bank from Kuwait’s Burgan Bank. Both are part of investment holding company Kuwait Projects Company Holding (KIPCO).

UGH said its medium-term debt will increase by $55 million, which was acquired to fund the acquisition. 

It expects the acquisition of BOB to be completed by March 31. 

UGH owns United Gulf Bank, an asset management, merchant and investment banking group that offers conventional and Islamic financial solutions.

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