Jordan’s Capital Bank Group announced that it had closed a deal with Lebanon’s Bank Audi to acquire its businesses in Jordan and Iraq.
The deal, which comes as part of the Jordanian bank’s plans to expand its operations, has secured the needed approvals from the Jordanian and Iraqi central banks, Capital Bank Group’s chairman Bassem Al-Salem told Reuters on Tuesday.
“The agreement responds to Capital Bank’s plans to enhance its competitive position and expand its regional and local expansion in Jordan and Iraq,” Al-Salem said, noting that the value of the deal will not be disclosed, as per the agreement with Bank Audi.
Prior to the debilitating economic and financial crisis that struck Lebanon last year, Bank Audi ventured into Jordan and Iraq in an expansive move that came to a halt with the repercussions the crisis has had on Lebanon’s banking sector.
The bank, headquartered in Beirut, has a vast network of branches and hundreds of ATMs spanning several countries in the MENA region and around the world, including in Turkey, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, France, and more.
In 2017, Bank Audi was ranked the best bank in Lebanon by Global Finance magazine.
The deal with Capital Bank is expected to boost the latter’s assets by approximately a third, to around $5.23 billion.
