By: Ramy Sameeh

Abu Dhabi – Mubasher: Shareholders of Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB) have approved, on Sunday, proposals to raise AED 504 million of share capital through a rights issue of 168 million new shares.

Shareholders at an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) also approved an increase to the bank’s authorisation for issuing sharia-compliant tier 1 capital instruments to $3 billion from the current limit of $2 billion, according to a statement.

“By agreeing to increase our share capital, and to increase our tier 1 sukuk issuance capacity, ADIB shareholders have once again endorsed the bank’s growth strategy,” said Tirad Mahmoud, ADIB Group CEO.

“We have experienced strong and prudent expansion in recent years and we continue to build our market-leading retail, private and wholesale banking businesses. As a top tier financial institution, ADIB is committed to maintaining a solid capital base and the bank aims to continue to deliver the superior returns that our shareholders and capital market investors have come to expect.”

Each registered shareholder will receive 56 rights for every 1,000 ADIB shares held at the time of the rights issue, the bank revealed, adding that each right grants its holder the eligibility to subscribe to one new share at an issue price of AED 3 per share, reflecting the nominal value of AED 1 per share, and a share premium of AED 2 per share.

“For the first time in the UAE, rights issued by a bank will be traded on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) through approved brokers,” the statement said.

The bank said it plans to publish the rights issue schedule in the coming weeks, and will launch a communication programme to inform shareholders on how to exercise their rights to subscribe to shares or trade the rights.

Worth noting, ADIB raised $1 billion in late 2012 through the world’s first ever Sharia-compliant hybrid tier 1 sukuk and the region’s first publicly issued perpetual tier 1 instrument.