Riyadh – Mubasher: Saudi Arabia’s Riyad Bank and the National Commercial Bank (NCB) are to hire advisers for their potential merger.
Formal advisers for the merger transaction would be appointed this month, informed sources told Bloomberg News.
The sources further noted that the Saudi lenders have approached JPMorgan Chase & Co, UBS Group, HSBC Holdings, Goldman Sachs Group, Citigroup, and Credit Suisse Group to submit their proposals.
The Saudi sovereign investor Public Investment Fund (PIF), which owns a 22% stake in Riyad Bank and a 44% share in NCB, is supporting the combination of the two banks.
By the end of December 2018, Bloomberg reported that NCB started initial discussions with Riyad Bank for a possible merger that would create an asset base of $182 billion for this entity.
Capital market analyst Mohammed Al-Shimmery told Mubasher that the merger is positive for the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) and it would help in achieving the Saudi Vision 2030.
