S&P affirms Saudi British Bank

S&P said it affirmed its BBB+ long-term and A-2 short-term issuer credit ratings on Saudi British Bank.

The outlook remains stable.

The agency said the affirmation follows the announcement of a preliminary, non-binding agreement between the boards of Saudi British Bank and Alawwal Bank on a potential merger.

“Because Alawwal Bank's business profile is similar to SABB's, the proposed merger would reinforce SABB's franchise in Saudi Arabia,” S&P said in a news release.

“Yet, while we anticipate strengthening of SABB's overall corporate and retail market shares as a result of the merger, we think this would likely be offset by a dilution of SABB's superior earnings generation capacity absent cost synergies.”

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.