The International Finance Corporation (IFC) has completed the conversion of $100 million subordinated debt advanced to Bahrain-based Ahli United Bank (AUB) into ordinary shares in the bank.

The debt has been converted into more than 118.6 million shares at a conversion price of 84.31 cents per share, said a report in the Gulf Daily News (GDN), our sister publication.

Post conversion, IFC along with the IFC Capitalisation Fund, hold a 5.16 per cent shareholding in AUB.

The subordinated debt facility was convertible only at the option of IFC.

Accordingly, its decision to exercise the conversion option represents a vote of confidence in AUB's strong underlying financial and operational fundamentals and in its positive future outlook, AUB chairman Fahad Al Rajaan said.

This follows the IFC Capitalisation Fund's accelerated conversion of its Mandatory Convertible Preference Shares in October 2013.

It is a continuation and reinforcement of the strong and multi-faceted relationship between AUB and IFC in Bahrain, Egypt and Oman.

IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is the largest global development institution focused exclusively on the private sector.

The corporation has $38 billion in debt and equity exposures globally. - TradeArabia News Service