HSBC is hoping to extend its red and white tentacles across Oman, the oil-rich Gulf state, after it agreed to merge its local unit with publicly-traded Oman International Bank.
HSBC plans to take a 51 per cent stake in the combined entity which will be re-named HSBC Bank Oman, the company said today. As part of the deal, HSBC will inject $97.4m into the joint lender. But why merge when other banks just expand?
This kind of deal, a merger between a local bank and an international bank, is pretty rare in the region, where M&A activity had almost ground to a halt. The value of completed deals in the Middle East was down 28.2 per cent in the first quarter, according to Thomson Reuters data.
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