DOHA: QNB Group has acquired an additional 49.96 percent stake in the share capital of the Tunisian Qatari Bank, thus raising its total shareholding to 99.96 percent, effective the moment the Group receives the required approvals of the regulatory authorities in the Republic of Tunisia Republic and Qatar.
The Tunisian Qatari Bank was established in 1982 as the first investment bank in Tunisia, only to become in 2004 the first Tunisian joint venture bank with a license to undertake all kinds of banking activities in association with the government of Qatar.
QNB substituted the government of Qatar in 2008, by acquiring its 50 percent stake in the Tunisian Qatari Bank. The Tunisian government later on put most of its remaining shareholding in the Bank for sale through an international bid offer launched in the last quarter of 2012. The bidding’s results showed QNB Group as the winner, which will raise the Group’s shareholding to 99.96 percent. The Tunisian Qatari Bank has 19 branches and employs 198 persons.
QNB Group would strengthen and support the technical and administrative resources of the Tunisian Qatari Bank, and strengthen the risk management framework in light of the strategies adopted by QNB Group, in order to allow it to benefit from the Group’s international reach and the dedicated services provided by its affiliates and wholly owned subsidiaries.
These include QNB Capital, incorporated at the Qatar Financial Centre, QNB Switzerland, the private banking arm of the Group in Geneva, and QNB Financial Services, incorporated in Qatar that provides dedicated brokerage services.
QNB Group announced excellent financial results for 2012, with net profits exceeding $2.3bn (QR8.3 bn), representing an increase of 11.1 percent over the previous year. Total assets rose by 21.5 percent to $101bn.
The Peninsula
