FIMBank plc - Information re Massaleh Investments & Burgan Bank

On 13 March, FIMBank plc announced that its largest shareholder, Massaleh Investments K.S.C.C., has granted Burgan Bank S.A.K. the right to acquire its holding in the Bank of 52,948,867 shares, which is equivalent to 38.8% of FIMBank’s issued share capital. Burgan Bank, established in 1977, is a Kuwaiti based bank with total assets of €12.5 billion as at 31 December 2011.

On its part, Burgan Bank has informed the Board of Directors of FIMBank of its intention to inject new equity in FIMBank which will increase its prospective holding to above 50% of FIMBank’s issued share capital which in turn will trigger a Mandatory bid for the remaining shares.

Following a presentation by Burgan Bank to the Board of Directors of FIMBank during the Board of Directors meeting of 12 March 2012, the Directors of FIMBank invited Burgan to proceed with the submission of its formal proposal for the consideration of the Board.

The announcement noted that the proposed transfer of Massaleh’s shareholding to Burgan, the injection of new equity and the prospective Mandatory bid by Burgan are all subject to: (i) the satisfactory conclusion of the due diligence process to be held by Burgan on FIMBank; (ii) the necessary final approvals, disclosures and/or opinions of the respective boards of directors; (iii) the relevant supervisory authorities in Malta and Kuwait; and (iv) the General Meeting of FIMBank.

FIMBank plc will issue further announcements as soon as it has any new information relevant to these developments.