Doha Bank raised QR2 billion ($549.3 million) through the issuance of capital-boosting bonds on Tuesday, Qatar's fifth-largest lender by assets said in a statement to the bourse on Thursday.

In March, the bank said that it would issue capital-enhancing bonds with a perpetual tenor and an option for the bank to redeem them after six years, to boost the bank's Tier 1 -- or core -- capital.

Doha Bank is one of a clutch of Gulf lenders to consider raising funds through capital instruments to sustain strong growth, diversify sources of funding and prepare for the new Basel III banking rules.

Qatar Islamic Bank QISB.QA, the Gulf state's largest sharia-compliant lender by assets, announced earlier this week it had raised 2 billion riyals through a Tier 1 perpetual sukuk issue.-Reuters