Emirates and Sudan Bank to launch IPO on May 15

DUBAI, May 6 (Reuters) – A new Islamic bank set up by investors from the United Arab Emirates and Sudan, will launch a $28.5 million initial public offering on May 15, the Emirates and Sudan Bank (ESB) said on Friday.

The one-month subscription will offer 28.5 million shares at $1 each, representing 25 percent of the Sudan-based ESB’s paid-up capital, a statement sent to Reuters said.

“The IPO follows completion of the bank’s private placement which closed at $85.5 million … Large institutions and Islamic banks from both countries have taken part,” it quoted Mohammed Khalfan bin Kharbash, head of the founders’ committee, as saying.

Kharbash is the chairman of Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB) and UAE minister of state for finance and industry.

The statement named some investors as DIB, Sharjah Islamic Bank , Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank and the Islamic Development Bank, the financial arm of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, but give no more investor details. It said the bank would be listed in Khartoum.

Sudan’s central bank last year gave approval to ESB, which has a declared capital of $200 million.

The bank says mainly Muslim Sudan is poised for an economic upturn after over two decades of civil war which crippled development in the vast country of around 30 million people.

Islamic banks do not pay or charge interest, considered usury by many Muslims. Money is made by using a system of profit-sharing from returns on approved investments.