KARACHI, Oct 17: The sponsors of United Bank Limited (UBL) — the Abu Dhabi Group and Bestway Group — are considering jointly acquiring another five per cent shares of the Bank “through open market purchases and/or conversion of Global Depository Receipts (GDRs),” held by them.

The announcement was made at the Karachi Stock Exchange on Wednesday by the Company Secretary & Chief Legal Counsel of UBL stating that the bank had been informed by the Abu Dhabi Group and Bestway Group that they are considering jointly acquiring an aggregate of five per cent (in equal proportion) of the capital of the bank.

The announcement, a copy of which had also been despatched to the London Stock Exchange; Citibank, N.A (custodian of UBL GDRs) and State Bank of Pakistan, stated that the sponsors were considering purchasing additional shares through open market and/or conversion of GDRs held by them.

The UBL announcement which was made to comply with the “disclosure of material information” regulation of the Stock Exchange stated that “the two Groups jointly have a controlling interest in relation to the affairs of UBL, as they, according to the bank’s record, each own 25.5 per cent of the share capital of UBL.”

Each of the two Groups, also own GDRs that “would entitle each of them to convert their GDRs into ordinary shares, representing approximately 4.8 per cent of the share capital of UBL,” the bank’s notice stated.

The announcement added that the two Groups had also informed UBL that the above purchases were subject to approval of the SBP (which has already been applied for) and conditional upon the terms of the purchase being acceptable.

The Groups were stated not to have entered into any negotiations/agreement with any purchaser with respect to the foregoing.

The bank’s notice forwarded to the three stock exchanges in the country concluded: “You may please inform the members of the Exchange accordingly.”