Qatar National Bank (QNB) said on Wednesday it had paid QR1.1 billion ($302.2 million) for a 23.8 per cent stake in Abu Dhabi-listed Commercial Bank International (CBI).

Qatar's largest bank had said earlier on Wednesday it intended to buy the stake in the Dubai-based lender. Shares of CBI surged 7.72 per cent in Abu Dhabi on the news.

The shares of Commercial Bank surged almost 10 per cent after QNB said in a statement on the Abu Dhabi bourse website it proposed to buy 297.69 million shares in Commercial Bank. Qatar National is the country's biggest bank by market value.-Reuters