Newly merged Norton Rose Fulbright has advised First Gulf Bank (FGB) on its $164 million acquisition of investment firm Dubai Group’s credit card business.
The Dubai First acquisition will help FGB expand its customer base in the UAE, the lender said in a statement. Dubai First has a 4.5 percent share of the UAE’s credit card market and has 464 employees, the statement said. Its latest audited accounts showed gross assets of 700 million dirhams, FGB said.
The Norton Rose Fulbright team was led by Abu Dhabi office head David Baylis, who was assisted by Abu Dhabi partner Dino Wilkinson, Dubai partners Matthew Escritt and Nick Clayson, and London partner Ffion Flockhart. Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer advised Dubai Financial Group, the seller and parent company of Dubai First.
The sale is part of Dubai Group’s efforts to cut down its debt pile, most of which was accumulated during the boom years of the mid-2000s.
“The sale is a strategic decision for Dubai Group, and is part of our stated plan to sell down assets in order to support our broader ongoing restructuring process,” Fadel al-Ali, Dubai Group’s chief executive, said in the statement.
Dubai Group’s assets are worth just a fifth of its $10 billion of debt, sources involved in its restructuring said in June. It has a portfolio of mainly financial services assets.
The firm has been selling down some of its smaller assets in the restructuring. But it has some major assets, such as its stake in Oman’s Bank Muscat, which is secured against debt held by France’s Natixis. Shares in Malaysia’s Bank Islam are pledged against a $330 million loan facility.
Kanishk Verghese is North Asia journalist at ALB. Follow us on Twitter: @ALB_TheBrief.
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