- First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB), the Middle East’s largest bank, is no longer pursuing a bid for Standard Chartered. The deal would have created an emerging markets lender with more than $1T of assets and would have been about a third the size of HSBC, its significant rival.
- By the end of September, FAB's investment banking arm had accumulated around $312 billion in assets, whereas Standard Chartered had accumulated around $864 billion. This deal would have served as a mutually beneficial opportunity for both parties.On Friday, FAB's shares closed down 2.3%, and its market value doubled than that of Standard Chartered.
- The UAE has 6% of the world’s oil reserves, and is now investing to diversify its economy away from oil. These financial investments are a part of this strategy and other Gulf-based lenders are taking similar steps
Why it matters
Had this deal gone through, it would have been the biggest foreign takeover by a company in the Gulf region and one of the largest bank mergers in the past decade.
