SABB receives SAMA approval on Alawwal merger

Saudi British Bank (SABB) has obtained the approval of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA), the Kingdom’s central bank, on its potential merger with Alawwal Bank.

SABB also confirmed its intention to proceed with the implementation of the merger with Alawwal.

“We expect the transaction to be complete during H1 2019,” SABB said in a bourse filing.

“The transaction financial advisor, Goldman Sachs, is not entitled to ensure SABB has sufficient funds to complete the deal, as the transaction value will not be paid in cash,” the statement read.

The deal is still pending regulatory approvals, it further added.

The board of directors of Alawwal Bank will issue a circular addressed to its shareholders setting out its views on the transaction, it said in a statement today.

SABB will concurrently publish an offer addressed to the shareholders of Alawwal, which will set out the relevant details, as well as a circular addressed to its own shareholders, with respect to the transaction and the associated capital increase.

Both banks will thereafter call for their respective extraordinary general assemblies to vote on the transaction.

In October 2018, SABB and Alawwal Bank inked a merger agreement to create Saudi Arabia’s third-biggest lender with a market capitalization of about $17.2 billion.

On completion of the merger, SABB’s existing shareholders will own 73 percent of the combined bank and Alawwal’s shareholders will own 27 percent on a fully diluted basis, Argaam previously reported.