(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Bank of London and the Middle East, or BLME, intends to list on Nasdaq Dubai, according to chief executive officer Humphrey Percy.
The UK-based lender with a £1 billion balance sheet became operational in 2007 and recently opened its first overseas office in Dubai. The listing price is expected to be $2.571 for each consolidated share, implying a market capitalisation of approximately $503 million, bank officials announced. It would be the stock market's first initial public offering since the global financial crisis.
BLME sees significant potential for expansion in the GCC and the UK across its three key business areas - corporate banking, treasury and wealth management, which includes asset management, private banking and Islamic capital markets. BLME has an established client base across the Gulf and continues to attract new clients.
"We are delighted to announce our intention to list on Nasdaq Dubai, as the Middle East's international exchange with excellent links to regional and global investors," Percy said.
"With Dubai's commitment to establishing Dubai as the economic capital of Islamic finance and BLME's position as a market leading Shariah-compliant bank, Nasdaq Dubai is the exchange of choice for BLME," he added.
"With the opening of our representative office in Dubai, we are now well-positioned at the heart of the Islamic finance industry across the UK and GCC and look forward to growing along with the sector. With the Islamic finance industry's global assets currently estimated at $ $1.1 trillion and predicted to exceed $2 trillion by the year 2015, this is a very exciting time for both BLME and the sector."
BLME believes that this is the right time for listing given the current market conditions and the increasingly prominent role of Dubai in Islamic finance. BLME will work in coming weeks with market participants to familiarise itself with BLME and with trading on Nasdaq Dubai. The purchase of new shares or the sale of existing shares will be handled by appointed independent brokers. Baker & McKenzie Habib Al Mulla is acting as the sponsor for the admission, handling regulatory and legal matters with the regulator and the exchange. EFG Hermes is acting as BLME's corporate broker and listing manager.
Nasdaq Dubai is majority-owned by the Dubai Financial Market. On the back of a strengthening local economy, the DFM has seen a more than 60 per cent jump in equity activity since the start of 2013.
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