Commercial Bank of Qatar (CBQ) will acquire a 70.84 per cent shareholding in Turkey's Alternatifbank A S (ABank) from Anadolu Endustri Holding A S, it was revealed today.

CBQ said the shares will be bought for two times the book value as at June 30, 2013 (the book value of ABank on December 31, 2012 was TL 585 million or $328 million).  

As of December 31, the stake would have been valued at $460 million, said a Reuters calculation.

The acquisition remains subject to relevant regulatory approval and is expected to be completed in the second half of 2013, it said.

As part of the transaction, CBQ will also launch a public tender offer to acquire the 4.16 per cent of ABank’s shares held in the public domain.

 Abdullah Bin Khalifa Al Attiyah, chairman of Commercialbank, said: “We are delighted to have agreed the terms of the acquisition for a majority stake in ABank. Qatar and Turkey continue to strengthen their relationship which will benefit the new partnership between Commercialbank and ABank enabling both banks to continue to grow and thrive; we look forward to working together with the Anadolu Group and ABank.”

Hussain Al Fardan, Commercialbank’s managing director, added “ABank operates in a dynamic economy with good long-term growth prospects, in a country that is strategically and culturally aligned, we believe this represents the logical next step in the execution of our international expansion strategy.”

Commercialbank’s international expansion strategy has focused, to date, on pan-GCC opportunities. The bank successfully acquired minority stakes in National Bank of Oman (34.9%) in 2005 and United Arab Bank (40%) in the UAE in 2008 and has forged successful alliances with these banks, developing their financial and operational efficiency and growing them in step with the economies they serve.

Andrew Stevens, Commercialbank’s group chief executive officer, said “ABank is a model of efficiency and good management and we look forward to working alongside our new partners, Anadolu Group, to develop the capabilities of ABank. We believe that ABank has the potential to be a strong contributor to the future profitability and growth of the Commercialbank Group.”

Tuncay Ozilhan, chairman of Anadolu and Alternatifbank, commented; “We are happy to have agreed this partnership with The Commercial Bank of Qatar and we are looking forward to working together to advance the strategy of ABank as a leading and healthy bank in the growing Turkish financial sector.” – TradeArabia News Service