Bank Islam Brunei Darussalam (BIBD), the country’s largest bank and flagship Islamic financial institution, is set to become the first Bruneian issuer in a possible IPO listing on the Malaysian bourse.
The planned initial public offering could raise as much as US$500 million and will be managed by JPMorgan and Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) as the bank’s joint global coordinators. BIBD also expects to add a book runner.
First-time share sales in Malaysia raised US$833 million so far this year, up from US$235 million during the same period last year, according to data from Bloomberg.
Shareholders of Bank Islam Brunei include the Brunei finance ministry, the Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Foundation, private equity firm Fajr Capital Ltd. and about 6,000 Bruneian investors.
Bank Islam Brunei Darussalam is formed through the merger of Islamic Bank of Brunei and Islamic Development Bank of Brunei in 2005. The lender is based in the capital of Bandar Seri Begawan and has 15 branches across Brunei with more than 700 employees.
BIBD has a total group asset at 7.5 billion Brunei dollars (about US$5.4 billion) at the end of 2015.
The lender’s IPO would make the bank a first from a country based in Brunei, one of the world’s richest countries on a per capita basis. At present, the country does not have its own stock exchange in spite of the announcement by the central bank last year to form one.
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