Dubai: Commercial Bank of Qatar (CBQ) yesterday said it has not attempted to sell its stake in Emirati lender United Arab Bank (UAB), denying a Reuters report a day earlier that it sought buyers for its 40 per cent holding.
“Commercial Bank has not contacted or held any talks with local or regional banks or any other financial institution to commence discussions to sell its stake in its UAE-based associate bank,” chief executive Abdulla Saleh Al Rais said in a statement to Doha’s stock exchange.
“We have no plans to withdraw from the UAE market and confirm that there has been no attempt to sell the Commercial Bank’s stake in UAB.”
Sharjah-based UAB has endured a difficult few months. Its chief executive left after the bank swung to a third-quarter loss on significant provisioning for soured loans.
Sources said that finding a buyer for CBQ’s stake would be tricky because of UAB’s specific problems.
&uuid=(email))