Burgan Bank, Kuwait’s second largest conventional bank by assets, has commenced its capital rights offering process to raise up to KD62.55 million ($206 million)of additional capital.

The subscription period will end on October 10.

The Bank said that the Rights Offering consists of the issuance of 240,581,530 ordinary shares at an offer price of KD0.260 per share which includes a share premium of KD0.160 and represents an increase in the total number of issued shares from 2,259,418,470 shares to2,500,000,000  shares, and an increase of 10.6 per cent in the existing issued share capital of the Bank.

The net proceeds of the rights offering will be used to improve the Bank’s capital adequacy ratio under Basel III framework, and leveraging the Bank’s business model for general business purposes. As of 30th June, 2018 Burgan Bank’s Core Equity Tier 1 Ratio (CET1) reached 11.0 per cent and Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) reached 16.6 per cent.

Majed Essa Al Ajeel, chairman of the board of Burgan Bank Group said: “We achieved the defined goals in optimizing the usage of the Bank capital which had helped the Bank to deliver good results that are ahead of our target. Now we see the right moment to raise capital so we can enhance the Bank’s capital levels and pursue our strong business pipeline with a focus on prudence and selective growth.”

"On behalf of the Board, I take this opportunity to thank our customers and shareholders for their confidence in our capabilities and their continued support and commitment." concluded Al-Ajeel.

Burgan Bank Group encompass operations in Kuwait, and its share from its regional subsidiaries, namely Burgan Bank – Turkey, Gulf Bank Algeria, Bank of Baghdad, Tunis International Bank, possessing one of the largest regional branch networks with 169branches across Kuwait, Turkey, Algeria, Iraq, Tunis, Lebanon and representative office in Dubai-United Arab Emirates. – TradeArabia News Service