Doha Bank said yesterday its rights issue is oversubscribed 1.8 times and added it would soon be refunding excess amounts to subscribers after necessary approvals. The bank said in a statement yesterday that the oversubscription to the tune of QR2.8bn reflected encouraging response from the bank’s shareholders who were eligible to subscribe to the issue. The issue, the size of which was over 51.67 million shares, was priced at QR30 (QR10 being the face value and QR20 being premium) and aimed at raising QR1.55bn. The cut-off date for shareholders of the bank to be eligible to subscribe was February 19. The oversubscription clearly shows the shareholders’ confidence in the bank and their optimism about its strong future performance, Sheikh Fahad bin Mohammed bin Jabor Al Thani (pictured), Chairman of the bank’s board, was quoted as saying in the statement. Sheikh Fahad said Doha Bank will coordinate with Ministry of Business and Trade, the Qatar Financial Markets Authority and Qatar Exchange to list the shares allotted to the shareholders who subscribed in the rights issue and that the refund of excess amounts would be announced after taking all necessary approvals from the concerned regulatory authorities for both the subscription and the allotment processes. The chairman said the decision to raise the capital increase through a rights’ offer was based on the resolution of the Extraordinary General Assembly held on February 20 that approved the first phase of increase of 25 percent of the current paid-up share capital (that is 206,697,802 shares) through the issuance of 51,674,450 new shares to Doha Bank’s existing shareholders who were registered at Qatar Exchange at the close of business on February 19. According to the chairman, the proposed capital increase will enhance the shareholders’ equity base and support the bank’s prospects for achieving its strategic goals at the local, regional and global levels. It will also strengthen the bank’s lending capacity and improve its competitive edge especially keeping in view the anticipated boom in various economic sectors in the State of Qatar in the coming years. The proposed capital increase would also enhance the Bank’s capability to achieve the targeted growth in the Balance Sheet and Income Statement and to attain the highest levels of performance in the coming years. Source : Qatar Chronicle

Follow us on our social media channels: @ILQlive @ILQlive @ILoveQtr ILoveQatar