Bank Audi to sell units in
Jordan and Iraq to Capital Bank

Talks on selling Egyptian business

to restart with First Abu Dhabi Bank

Jordan’s Capital Bank has signed a letter of intent with Bank Audi to acquire the assets and liabilities of Audi’s business in Jordan and Iraq.

The two banks have obtained initial approval from their respective regulatory authorities.

“We have begun the process of due diligence and it will take some time, then we come up with an offer. We are agreed on the basic principles,” Bassem Al Salem, Chairman of Capital Bank, told Reuters.

Al Salem said he expects a binding offer by the end of October “subject to the results of the due diligence.” Due diligence work has already begun.

Capital Bank is a corporate bank with $3.5 billion in assets. The eventual acquisition would enable it to diversify into retail banking through acquiring Audi’s Jordan 15-branch operations.

The acquisition of Audi’s unit in Iraq would allow it to expand into a niche corporate banking market. Capital Bank already has a 62 percent shareholding in National Bank of Iraq, a retail bank with over $533 million in assets.

“We applied to get both their operations since we are interested in both markets to expand,” Al Salem added.

First Abu Dhabi Bank plans to restart talks to buy the Egyptian business of Bank Audi, after they were halted a few weeks ago due to economic concerns related to the Covid-19 epidemic.