Oman's Bank Sohar to consider Bank Dhofar merger offer

Bank Sohar, Oman's fifth-largest lender, said on Sunday that it would consider a proposal from larger peer Bank Dhofar to merge operations, a move which would create the country's second-largest bank with US$10.7 billion of assets.

Bank Sohar said in a filing on Oman's bourse that it had received a letter on July 18 from the board of directors of Bank Dhofar with regard to a merger proposal between the two banks.

Bank Dhofar, the larger of the two lenders, said last week that it had approached Bank Sohar and a deal would be dependent on Sohar being interested, as well as on both sets of shareholders and sector regulators agreeing.

"The Bank would like to reaffirm that it will consider Bank Dhofar's proposal in order to conclude an adequate decision in line with the interest of the shareholders of Bank Sohar and the national economy," Bank Sohar said in the statement.

Bank Dhofar reported a 21 per cent slump in second-quarter net profit, according to Reuters calculations, earlier on Sunday.

* Reuters