The Fimbank board of directors has concluded that the acquisition of a controlling interest by United Gulf Bank (UGB) and Burgan would be beneficial to the bank, would create a number of opportunities, and would be favourable and conducive to the growth of the bank and the group as a whole.

UGB and Burgan already hold 49.78 per cent of the shares in the bank but want to have a controlling interest.

They have made an offer of $0.95 per share for the 90 million shares not held by them, which have a nominal value of $0.50. This represents a premium of $0.1348 over the net asset value per share.

Fimbank said in a company announcement that it was the board’s understanding that “the bid should not presently generate any change in the actual employment structure of the bank, the conditions of employment of the bank’s employees or the listing status of the bank, subject to the general rule under the Listing Rules requiring 25 per cent public ownership.

“Moreover, the board has evaluated in detail the representations made by the offerors in the offer document with regard to their outlook on the business strategy of Fimbank, which will remain that of a specialised trade finance institution, while concurrently developing more opportunities and providing additional resources,” it said.

They also noted that Fimbank would have increased access to funding and consequently the opportunity to benefit from additional share capital that will allow the bank to attract cheaper funding.

However, the board held back from expressing an opinion on the price being offered for the shares.

The board stressed that nothing in the document “should be interpreted as purporting to provide advice to shareholders on whether to accept the bid or not”, and advised shareholders to seek independent advice before deciding whether to accept the bid.

Shareholders have until 5pm on January 20 to decide.