International law firm SNR Denton has advised global banking giant HSBC on the merger of its Oman-based unit with Oman International Bank. HSBC will hold a majority stake in the new operation.

HSBC , with nine branches and $2.5 billion worth of assets in Oman, will hold 51 percent of the share capital of the combined entity, which will be renamed HSBC Bank Oman. Oman International Bank is the sultanate’s fifth-largest bank with 85 branches and gross assets of $3.2 billion.

“Whilst…a merger between a local bank and an international bank is quite rare in the region, where M&A activity had almost ground to a halt, we are proud to have provided our extensive transactional, corporate and financial institutions expertise on such a significant development for both Oman and HSBC,” said George Sandars, corporate partner at SNR Denton.

The core SNR Denton team in Muscat was led by corporate partner George Sandars, Andrew Steele and Rachael Oxby, with assistance from Ahmed Al Barwani, Dianne Hamilton, Adil Al Yahyai, James Barton and Jennifer Dixon from the corporate practice., Abdelrahman El Nafie and Fatma Makki, provided support from the dispute resolution practice while Sadaf Buchanan, Philip Keun, Sarah Peuch and Anna Tostevin were involved in the banking practice. Kamel Daou and Nadine Naji provided supported from Qatar in the corporate practice.

Under the terms of the merger, HSBC will inject additional capital of up to $97.4 million from internal resources into HSBC Oman, after which the lender's local business will be merged with OIB. HSBC will have management and board control of the new entity, but it will remain listed on the Oman bourse. ALB

Shaheen Pasha is Middle East Editor at The Brief. Follow her on Twitter. @ALB_TheBrief

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