Burgan denies fresh talks over Iraqi lender

TALKS DENIED: Burgan has said it is not in fresh negotiations with Bank of Baghdad, but reiterated its plan to acquire a majority stake in the lender.

Kuwait's Burgan Bank denied on Sunday a newspaper report that it was in fresh talks to buy a stake in an Iraqi lender, but reiterated plans to acquire a majority stake in the Bank of Baghdad.

Al-Jarida newspaper said on Sunday that Burgan was in talks with investors to buy a stake in an Iraqi lender, citing banking sources.

"We are buying a majority [stake]... in Bank of Baghdad. We announced it before," Chief Executive Jonathan Lyon told newswire Reuters. "There is nothing new."

Burgan, the seventh-largest lender in the Gulf Arab state by market value, said earlier this month it won central bank approval to buy stakes in other lenders in the region.

In May, the bank said it agreed to buy foreign assets worth 194 million dinars ($732.6 million) from Bahrain's United Gulf Bank (UGB) as part of an international expansion programme. (Reuters)

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