Fitch Ratings, the international rating agency, has assigned an A+ rating to the $450 million Floating Rate Note (FRN) due February 2005 launched by National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) in February 2002.
NBK was established in 1952 as the first indigenous bank and the first joint stock company in the Gulf. The bank's founders were a group of leading merchant families, which still make up the Board of Directors and own an 80 percent interest in the bank's equity. The free float of equity shares is approximately 20 percent.
NBK offers its clients in Kuwait a wide range of banking and financial services through a network of 42 branches, 70 automated teller machines (ATM), point of sale terminals and an automated call center, as well as Internet and WAP-enabled mobile banking. NBK's international operations include a subsidiary based in London, branches in New York, Paris, Singapore and Bahrain, and representative offices in Thailand and Vietnam. It also has a majority stake in a Lebanese Bank. — (menareport.com)
© 2002 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
