Arqaam Sees U.A.E. Bank ADCB Buying UNB in Next 12 to 18 Months - Bloomberg

Arqaam Sees U.A.E. Bank ADCB Buying UNB in Next 12 to 18 Months - Bloomberg:
"Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank PJSC will probably buy smaller rival Union National Bank PJSC in the next 12 to 18 months as the planned merger of Abu Dhabi’s two biggest banks boosts consolidation in the United Arab Emirates’ banking industry, Arqaam Capital Ltd. said.
Arqaam is “pretty confident” that ADCB and UNB looked at the possibility of a merger and “probably concluded that there are very strong merits for such a move,” Jaap Meijer, the brokerage’s head of equity research, said in an interview on Bloomberg TV on Monday. The shareholding structure of the two banks is supportive of a combination, he said.
Abu Dhabi in July decided to combine its two largest lenders, National Bank of Abu Dhabi PJSC and First Gulf Bank PJSC, to create a regional powerhouse with $175 billion of assets. The merger was seen as a precursor to more deals in the U.A.E.’s financial services industry, where 49 lenders compete in a market of about 9 million people."

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