UAE-based Al Ansari Financial Services (AAFS) has signed a sales and purchase agreement to fully acquire Bahrain's BFC Group Holdings (BFCGH) for $200 million (AED 735 million).
This acquisition will expand AAFS's footprint and solidify its position as the largest remittance and exchange provider in the Gulf region in terms of branch network, the UAE exchange house said in a bourse filing on Tuesday.
AAFS plans to secure financing under customary market terms to finance the acquisition of the Bahrain-based foreign exchange and remittance group.
The merged entity will boast a network of over 410 branches and a workforce of approximately 6,000, expanding AAFS's presence by 60% and its staff by 25%.
The transaction is set to close by the first quarter of 2025. The deal is subject to customary legal and regulatory approvals and the fulfillment of specific conditions.
This acquisition supports AAFS's strategic goals of geographic expansion, branch network growth, and service diversification.
The consolidated revenues of AAFS and BFCGH for the fiscal year 2023 amounted to approximately $385 million (AED 1.4 billion), a 22% growth compared to AAFS’s reported revenue.
AAFS had submitted a formal offer to acquire a majority stake in an exchange house in Oman to expand its presence in the Gulf region. Al Ansari did not divulge the name of the Omani exchange firm targeted for potential acquisition.
If completed, the UAE exchange house said Oman would be the group’s second expansion in the GCC region after Kuwait while continuing to strengthen its local presence by opening more branches in the UAE.
AAFS reported a 25.8% fall in its first-quarter profit to $26.9 million (AED 98.7 million), mainly due to the cumulative impact of a reduction in operating income, an 11% rise in overhead expenses, and the introduction of corporate tax.
The UAE exchange house said its operating income for the January-March period of 2024 dropped by 4.3% year-on-year to $74.8 million (AED 274.7 million) due to the persistent challenges of the parallel market in key remittance corridors and the prevailing macroeconomic conditions in the region.
During the quarter, the total number of transactions rose by 5.1% year-on-year to 12.4 million.
In April this year, the exchange house sold 750 million shares, or 10% of its stake owned by AAFS, on the Dubai bourse, making it one of the first family-owned businesses to come out with a share offering at the Emirates.
