Kipco units buy stake Malta’s bank

BEIRUT:Kuwait Projects Co (Holding) (KPROJ.KW), or Kipco, said on Monday that two of its units have together bought a 38 per cent stake in Malta’s FIMBank. Kipco, one of the largest diversified holding groups in the Middle East and North Africa, said that its Kuwait-based Burgan Bank (BURG.KW) has acquired a 25 per cent interest in the Maltese trade finance bank and Bahrain-based United Gulf Bank (UGB.BH) a 13 per cent stake.

Kipco didn’t disclose the value of the deal or the name of the seller (or sellers) in a statement posted on the Kuwait bourse website.

FIMBank’s website shows that Kuwait’s Massaleh Investments Co which held a 38.19 per cent stake in FIMBank doesn’t appear any more in the list of shareholders owning a stake of 5 per cent or more in the lender. The same data also shows that Burgan Bank and United Gulf Bank are now FIMBank’s two major shareholders.

FIMBank’s total assets stood at $1.13 billion (Dh4.15 billion) at the end of 2012 while its total equity amounted to $130.6 million, according to the lender’s website.