Consortium to pay $1.12bn for Oger’s stake in Jordan’s Arab Bank

A group of investors will pay $1.12bn for Saudi Oger’s stake in Jordan’s Arab Bank and expects to complete the deal by mid-January, a member of the consortium told Al Arabiya TV on Wednesday.

Saudi Arabian conglomerate Astra Group was part of the consortium, led by Arab Bank Group Chairman Sabih al-Masri, that was buying the 20 per cent stake, Ghassan Akeel, chief executive for Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council at Astra Group, told the broadcaster.

Masri is also chairman of Astra Group.

“We have 45 days exclusivity and God willing by January 15 we should be done with everything,” Akeel told Al Arabiya TV.

He said the consortium was paying JOD6.25 ($8.82) per share. Arab Bank’s shares closed at JOD6.09s on Wednesday.

Masri had confirmed a Reuters story that he was leading a consortium to buy the stake after the family of Saudi Arabia’s Fawaz Alhokair dropped its $1.1bn offer.

The stake is held by Oger Middle East Holding, which is owned by the family of Lebanese Prime Minister-designate Saad al-Hariri.

Saudi Oger, the central plank of the Hariri business empire, was one of two large Saudi contractors charged with implementing the kingdom’s grand infrastructure plans before the fall in oil prices and consequent state spending cuts left the company facing a possible multibillion-dollar debt restructuring to stave off collapse.

As a result, it has been seeking to shed assets to try to meet its debt, which include around SAR15bn to banks, plus billions more to contractors, suppliers and employees, sources told Reuters in September.

The Arab Bank stake sale was expected to help it repay a $1.03bn loan from regional and international banks due to mature in February next year.