Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB) on Tuesday said it had received approval from its board to explore the possible acquisition of unlisted Noor Bank.
The United Arab Emirates’ largest sharia-compliant lender also received approval to appoint financial advisers to conduct due diligence and valuation of Noor Bank, it said in a statement.
Dubai’s sovereign investment group, Investment Corp of Dubai (ICD) is a common shareholder in the two banks. ICD owns 28.37 percent of DIB and more than 22.7 percent of Noor Bank.
DIB, the world’s oldest Shariah-compliant lender, is in talks with shareholders of Dubai-based Noor Bank over a possible acquisition of the lender, three sources told Reuters this month.
In a statement on April 14, the bank said it regularly looks at opportunities to support expansion including acquisitions.
DIB also reported a first quarter net profit attributable to shareholders of 1.34 billion dirhams ($365 million), up 15 percent from 1.17 billion dirhams a year earlier.
Total income rose 26 percent to 3.4 billion dirhams.
Net financing and sukuk investments of 179.3 billion dirhams were up 2 percent from end-2018.
Total assets stood at 226.5 billion dirhams at the end of quarter, up 1.3 percent from end-2018. (Reporting By Stanley Carvalho; editing by Hadeel Al Sayegh and Jason Neely)