Dubai Islamic Bank proposes Noor Bank acquisition via share swap

The board of Dubai Islamic Bank has proposed the acquisition of Noor Bank through a strategic investment via a share swap.

The board’s proposal for the strategic investment is by issuing new shares in DIB for an in-kind contribution of 99.999% of Noor Bank’s issued share capital held by Noor Investment Group and Emirates Investment Authority that will become strategic investors in DIB, it said in a bourse filing on Monday (Nov 25).

The share swap ratio is 1 new DIB share for every 5.49 shares of Noor Bank through the issuance of 651,159,198 new DIB shares in aggregate.

UAE’s largest standalone Islamic bank will convene a general assembly on December 17 to seek shareholder approval for the proposal.

It will meet again on December 24 in case of no quorum, the bank said.

UAE currently has six standalone Islamic banks: DIB, Emirates Islamic, Noor Bank, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, Sharjah Islamic Bank, and Ajman Bank. DIB's acquisition of Noor Bank will cut that number down to five. 

Dubai Islamic Bank was designated by the UAE central bank in 2018 as systematically important. It is the only standalone and full-fledged Islamic bank out of four financial institutions the regulator considers “too big to fail”.

The bank posted 0.08% increase in net profit to 1.262 billion dirhams ($343.6 million) for the three months ending September 30 compared to the same quarter a year ago.

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