BankDhofar, Oman's second-largest bank by market value, has been ordered to pay 26.1 million Omani rials as part of a lawsuit filed by rival Oman International Bank (OIB).
The suit related to a complex dispute between OIB and Ali Redha Trading Group.
In late 2001, Ali Redha, a commodity trading company based in Oman, announced a default on a debt of 70m rialsowed to local and international banks. Majan International Bank was one of the affected lenders and was forced to merge with BankDhofar. Majan's chairman was among the shareholders of Ali Redha.
OIB said in its lawsuit it was owed the equivalent of 1.93 million BankDhofar shares as a result of losses incurred in the transaction. BankDhofar said it had disputed the claim.
"We are assessing all legal options available for us to reclaim this amount back and to protect the bank's interests," BankDhofar said in a statement to the stock exchange.
Shares in BankDhofar fell 4.9 per cent to 0.596 rials on the Muscat bourse in thin volumes. OIB shares closed 0.7 per cent higher to 0.257 rials.
Analysts said there was still not enough clarity on the decision and it was too early to price in the potential damage, but that BankDhofar shares were still trading on the expensive side.
The lender's shares trade at a 8 per cent premium to its market's fair-value price of 0.550, said Kunaga Sandar, a senior manager at Gulf Baader Capital Markets, based in Oman. Mr Sandar has a "neutral" rating on the stock. The company's price-to-earnings ratio of 15 is also higher than the sector's average of 12, he said.
One reason the stock is relatively expensive is that only 29.1 per cent of the bank's shares are listed on the country's stock exchange.
The Muscat bourse also features relatively low daily volumes.
BankDhofar earned 33.3m rials in net profit last year.
