Islamic Bank takeover on verge of collapse as fresh suitor emerges
THE proposed takeover of the Birmingham-based Islamic Bank of Britain by its major shareholder, Qatar International Islamic Bank, is on the verge of collapse after the two sides failed to reach an agreement on the deal.
However, fellow Islamic bank now Masraf Al Rayan (MAR) has re-emerged as a possible suitor for the Birmingham operation after expressing interest earlier in the year.
The QIIB acquisition had expected to be implemented by means of a court-sanctioned scheme and under the terms of the arrangement shareholders would have been entitled to receive 1p in cash for each IBB share.
The acquisition valued IBB’s issued share capital at approximately £35.5m and the scheme shares at approximately £4.1m.
However, the boards of both IBB and QIIB have said that following the Court Meeting the proposed scheme failed to win majority support and as a result, the proposal had lapsed.
In June MAR was said to be in discussions with QIIB regarding the purchase of QIIB’s shareholding in IBB. MAR announced it intended acquire IBB under a deal which would see it acquire 70% of the IBB shares with the Government of the State of Qatar acquiring the remaining 30%.
In August MAR announced that at a shareholder meeting its shareholders had approved the proposal “subject to obtaining a positive financial, business and legal due diligence in addition to approval of the official authorities in the State of Qatar and the United Kingdom”.
A statement today from the various parties said: “Whilst the board of IBB have not received a direct approach from MAR, QIIB remain in discussions with MAR regarding the sale of their IBB shares, representing 88.41% of the issued share capital of IBB, to MAR. Any such purchase of IBB shares which carry 30% or more of the voting rights of IBB would trigger the requirement for a general offer. MAR has further confirmed that if any offer is made it is likely that it would be solely in cash.”
Under takeovers and mergers rules MAR must announce whether it is to submit an offer by 5pm on November 12.
The board of IBB said it would make a further announcement in due course.
Birmingham advisory firm Cattaneo is advising the board of Islamic Bank of Britain.
