Ahli United Bank (AUB) announced the completion of the conversion of the International Finance Corporation Capitalization Fund’s (IFC Fund) mandatorily convertible preference shares (MCPS) into AUB common shares resulting in the issuance of 167,045,454 AUB shares to the IFC Fund at a conversion price of 74.8 US Cents per share. Post conversion, the IFC Fund has a 2.95% shareholding in AUB.
The conversion price represents a premium of 10% on the closing market price as of 10 October 2013. The IFC Fund’s decision to accelerate the conversion was based on AUB’s solid financial and operational performance.
“IFC Fund’s decision to exercise the conversion option prior to the mandatory conversion date represents a strong vote of confidence in the solid fundamentals of AUB and its regional business strategy,” Fahad Al-Rajaan, AUB Chairman, said.
The IFC Capitalization Fund is a global equity and subordinated debt fund founded by the International Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank Group, and the Japan Bank for International Cooperation. It aims to support banks considered vital to the financial system of emerging market countries. The US$3 billion fund is invested in banks of strategic importance in their countries.