Kuwait's Burgan Bank has halted plans to increase capital by KD200 million ($704.2 million), the company said in a statement to the Kuwait bourse on Tuesday.

Burgan, a unit of Kuwait Projects Company (Kipco), said it had halted the plans due to a delay in the issuing of a decree from Kuwait's emir to allow the capital increase.

Burgan shareholders approved the capital increase in June, after the bank agreed to purchase the foreign assets of another Kipco unit, Bahrain's United Gulf Bank (UGB), for KD194 million.

The acquisition was part of a push by Burgan last year to move outside of its home market for the first time.

The purchase of UGB assets would give Burgan a stake in the Bank of Baghdad, Algeria Gulf Bank, Jordan Kuwait Bank and Tunis International Bank.-Reuters