Qatar's Barwa Bank completes $467m rights issue

Qatar's Barwa Bank, a unit of Barwa Real Estate, has completed a 1.7 billion riyals ($466.8 million) rights issue aimed at funding the bank's expansion, it said in a statement on Sunday.

The Islamic bank said the offering, which opened on December 6 and saw 109.1 million new shares offered to existing shareholders, attracted bids of 1.9 billion riyals.

Barwa Bank's issued capital will increase to 3 billion riyals from 1.9 billion riyals following the rights issue, with authorised capital upped to 6 billion riyals from 2.5 billion riyals, it added.

Barwa Bank acquired the sharia-compliant retail banking business of International Bank of Qatar in August for an undisclosed amount, following the central bank's edict banning conventional banks from offering Islamic banking services.