Doha Bank, Qatar's fifth-largest lender by market value, has won approval from key regulatory authorities to list 51.6 million new shares at Qatar Exchange in line with its plans to boost capital, said a top official.

Announcing this at a key investors's meeting, Doha Bank chairman Sheikh Fahad Bin Mohammad Bin Jabor Al Thani said these new shares have been issued to the bank’s existing shareholders registered at Qatar Exchange at the close of business on February 19 at a price of QR30 per share.

This represented a premium of QR20 in addition to a nominal value of QR, and 10 per share, he stated.

Sheikh Fahad also pointed out that these shares were oversubscribed to the tune of 93.6 million shares which is equivalent to 45.3 per cent of the total shares capital, comprising 1.8 times the total shares offered for subscription.

The allotment ratio reached around 4.83 per cent and the subscription of right shares reached to 49.5 million shares out of 51.6 million shares, he added.

According to Sheikh Fahad, the shares available for allotment soared to 2.1 million. The bank has automatically allotted 25 per cent of the current owned shares by the shareholder ‘rights’ and allotted the unsubscribed right shares among the subscribers on a pro rata basis.

He said the bank has already approached Qatar Exchange to list the new shares, and will refund the excess amounts to the respective shareholders who have oversubscribed their priority rights as of Tuesday (April 9).

Sheikh Fahad pointed out that the capital hike will not only boost the bank’s lending capacity and improve its competitive edge, but also help the bank to improve its performance and achieve its strategic goals at the local, regional and global levels in the coming years.-TradeArabia News Service