Gulf Bank pegs listing plan on IFC exit Gulf African Bank has tied its public listing plans to the exit of International Finance Corporation (IFC) from its shareholders’ roll.
The lender is 15 per cent owned by IFC, the World Bank’s private sector lending arm.
IFC bought a 15 per cent stake in the bank for $5 million (Sh430 million) last year, which valued it at about $33.33 million (Sh2.86 billion) at the time.
Chief executive of Gulf Bank Abdalla Abdulkhalik said IFC plans to exit through a public share sale.
“What they are looking at is that this (Gulf African Bank) will go into an initial public offering (IPO) and become a public company and therefore they (IFC) will be bought out by the normal mwananchi,” said Mr Abdulkhalik at the Islamic Finance Conference held in Mombasa last week without however giving time lines.The IPO, which could be a first for a Shariah-compliant bank, is also expected to raise additional capital for the lender. “We have not set a timeframe yet but at some point Gulf African Bank would like to go public,” said Mr Abdulkhalik.
IFC’s policy is to invest in firms for between five and seven years .Before IFC’s equity investment, Gulf Bank was owned by Istithmar World which had a 32 per cent stake, Government of Dubai sovereign fund and alternative investment BMI Bank BSC with a 21.3 per cent stake, Saudi Arabia-based investor Abdullah Mohammed Al Romaizan (21.3 per cent), Gulf Cap Group, a Dubai-based firm (10.3 per cent) and PTA Bank (5.3 per cent).
Going by the IFC’s investment horizon the public could get a chance to buy into the lender by 2017.