Dubai: Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB), the largest Islamic bank in the United Arab Emirates, said on Tuesday it had received a letter of intent from a consortium led by Jordan’s Bank Al Etihad interested in buying MESC Investment, the holding company for its business in Jordan.
The proposal sets out the terms and conditions required for the purchase of MESC Investment, a Jordan-based company in which DIB holds a 40 per cent shareholding through its wholly owned subsidiaries, Petra and Levant One, according to a bourse statement.
MESC owns 52 per cent of Jordan Dubai Islamic Bank, a Jordan-based unit of DIB.
DIB is present in several foreign markets. It plans to begin operating in Kenya before the end of 2016, sources said last week.
But it is seeking to withdraw from some markets such as Jordan as it aims to cut costs, a source familiar with the matter said.
The statement did not mention the value of the proposed transaction. It said further details would be announced once final terms of the sale are reached.
DIB has stakes in banks in Pakistan, Sudan, Bosnia and late last year raised its stake in Bank Panin Syariah, the Indonesian Sharia-compliant lender, to 39.6 per cent, a presentation on the bank’s website shows.
