#Kuwait Finance House Said to Weigh Bid for Stake in #Saudi Lender - Bloomberg

Kuwait Finance House Said to Weigh Bid for Stake in Saudi Lender - Bloomberg

Kuwait Finance House KSCP has been exploring the purchase of a significant stake in Saudi Investment Bank as dealmaking activity heats up in the Middle East, according to people familiar with the matter.

The Kuwaiti lender has been studying a potential investment to help bolster its regional presence, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information is private. Shares of Saudi Investment Bank are little changed in Riyadh trading this year, giving the company a market value of about $4.3 billion.

Banking consolidation has picked up across the Middle East as lenders have sought to gain more scale in order to better compete with rivals. One of the last major deals also involved KFH, which agreed in 2022 to acquire Bahrain’s Ahli United Bank following nearly four years of negotiations.

Deliberations are ongoing and there’s no certainty they will result in a deal, the people said. Spokespeople for KFH and the Saudi Investment Bank didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Saudi Investment Bank previously counted JPMorgan Chase & Co. as one of its biggest shareholders until the US bank sold off its stake in 2018.