Banking & Finance Kuwait’s Burgan Bank to take over United Gulf in 2025 By Pramod Kumar December 19, 2024, 12:44 PM Burgan Bank Burgan Bank has received clearance from the Kuwaiti central bank to buy 100 percent of United Gulf Bank Burgan Bank, a subsidiary of KIPCO Group, is expected to complete the acquisition of Bahrain-based United Gulf Bank in the first quarter of 2025. The bank has received clearance from the Kuwaiti central bank to buy a 100 percent stake in United Gulf Bank, KIPCO Group said in a regulatory filing on Boursa Kuwait on Thursday. “Given that KIPCO is the ultimate shareholder of both UGB (84 percent) and Burgan Bank (65 percent), we had expected a relatively easier execution of the deal including agreement on pricing,” Riyadh-based market analysis company Sico Research said in a note on Thursday. In August, Boubyan Bank and Gulf Bank, two of the largest Kuwait-listed shariah-compliant lenders, announced plans to commence an initial feasibility study for a potential merger. Kuwait faces recession but will recover over medium term Kuwait renews $2bn deposit with Central Bank of Egypt Kuwaiti companies looking at Saudi exchange listings In September, Andrew Cunningham wrote in AGBI that there were mergers between banks in every other GCC state, reducing the total number of active commercial banks in the region to 60 today from 73 in 2018. But despite obvious overcrowding in the Kuwaiti banking market and long-term underperformance by some (though not all) of its banks, we have yet to see a banking merger in Kuwait, he said.
Education Gems Education announces $100m Dubai school Gems Education has revealed plans to open the most expensive school in the Gulf, which is set for completion later this year. It is spending $100 million to develop Gems School of Research and Innovation in Dubai Sports City. Annual fees will start from AED116,000 ($31,582) for early-years education and rise to AED206,000 by the […] 3 hours ago
Energy Aramco announces $9bn of localisation investment Saudi Aramco has identified 210 localisation opportunities within 12 sectors with an estimated market size of $28 billion. Wail Al Jaafari, Aramco vice president of technical services, revealed the plans on the opening day of the Iktva Forum in Dhahran on Monday. Iktva, which stands for “in-kingdom technical value add”, “is a top priority in […] 2 hours ago
Mining Brazil and UAE sign minerals exploration deal The UAE and Brazil have signed an agreement potentially worth billions of dollars to invest in the search for minerals that are essential to the green energy transition. The memorandum of understanding aims to promote exploration for and development of “strategic” minerals, in a partnership that could reach R$15 billion ($2.45 billion) in investments, Brazil’s […] 2 hours ago
Energy Turkey needs $80bn for energy transition, says minister Turkey needs $80 billion to meet growing energy demand, which has tripled in the last two decades, the energy minister said on Monday. “We need to attract capital into our energy markets. We need to find new business solutions,” Alparslan Bayraktar said at the International Renewable Energy Agency assembly in Abu Dhabi, adding that the […] 2 hours ago
