KARACHI: JS Bank Ltd on Friday acquired 67.33 per cent shares of BankIslami Pakistan Ltd through a combination of agreements with big shareholders and a public offer.

The total transaction value wasn’t readily available given that the deal involved a public offer by JS Bank for a 24.9pc stake in BankIslami, which followed three separate share purchase agreements with the sponsors for another 42.4pc stake in the Islamic lender.

Separately, manager to the offer Next Capital Ltd told investors that all obligations relating to the public offer under the takeover regulations have been fulfilled by the acquirer.

The acquirer already held a 7.8pc stake in the Sharia-compliant bank. The stated reason for the acquisition of BankIslami by JS Bank was that the latter didn’t have an Islamic banking window or operations.

The acquisition will enable JS Bank to make BankIslami a subsidiary and benefit from dividend income as well as the expected growth in Islamic banking.

BankIslami will continue to operate as an independent Islamic banking subsidiary of JS Bank.

Published in Dawn, August 26th, 2023